Failed Hijacking Attempt On Flight Out Of Washington D.C. Caught On Film By Redditor

It’s being reported that shortly after takeoff from the Washington-Dulles Airport, United Airlines Flight 1074 en route to Denver was forced to return to Dulles after a ‘disturbance’ from a passenger who tried to overtake the cockpit and was taken down by force.

Reddit user ‘ILL_D‘ stole all the glory from the major news networks on this one as he claims his father was on the flight, and the redditor was the first person to both report on the story and share footage of the incident (video above).

First sharing this story late last night, these are the only details ‘ILL_D’ released at the time:

This just happened, my father was on the plane and took this picture. Will post videos and more pictures if people are interested. He was screaming and sprinting towards the cockpit. Several large passengers tackled him before he even reached the door.
Edit: this was after the plane had taken off for Denver, after this incident it was returned to Dulles.
Edit: screen grab of a video .. here’s a shot of his face http://m.imgur.com/JgcWhzP
Edit: he claimed to have bombs on board when first taken down, they are still looking into it but i imagine it was most likely a lie

So technically it was a Redditor’s father who captured the video and passed it along to his son. But I think it’s safe to assume this man will be a Redditor within the next 48-hours with an almost certainly forthcoming AMA.

This story has since gone on to gain HUGE national attention, picking up steam at ABC News, ABC affiliates, The Washington Post, NBC News, USA Today, and many others….all based on the images and video of a Redditor whose father was on the plane.

The Washington Post is reporting no weapons were found on board, and the attempted hijacker was taken to a hospital for evaluation (presumably psychiatric).

From ABC7News:

Flight 1074 en route to Denver returned to Dulles International Airport shortly after takeoff late Monday. The pilots told air traffic controllers that the passenger became violent but was restrained by passengers, according to LiveATC.net.

“He ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by passengers,” said one of the pilots. “Cockpit is secure and we would like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet him.”

Law enforcement in Washington met the plane at the gate and detained the passenger, according to a statement from United Airlines. The passenger was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation, said a spokesperson for the airport.

I cannot be the only person consistently astonished that Reddit beats the biggest news outlets in the world to stories on a consistent basis. A site who gets their largest chunk of PV’s from porn is just constantly throwing it in the faces of CNN, NBC, ABC, EVERYONE. It’s amazing.

The hijacking attempt itself is actually quite disheartening, because it seems like that guy definitely isn’t mentally stable. And his attempt to storm the cockpit was reportedly feeble at best. Chances are he suffers from some sort of mental instability and it came out at the wrong time, but that’s of course me jumping to many rash judgments.

[Reddit]