Naked man causes security alert at Los Angeles airport

Airline Industry Information, Nov 4, 2004

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A Canadian man caused a major security alert at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday evening (1 November) after he stripped naked, sprinted across a runway and jumped into the wheel well of a moving aircraft.

The 31-year-old man reportedly became angry when he was refused a ticket for a flight to Australia after he failed to provide a valid credit card, according to airport officials. He later managed to climb a fence which was topped with barbed wire and was spotted by a ramp worker running towards a Qantas jumbo jet.

The pilots managed to stop the aircraft and officials coaxed the man out of the aircraft's wheel well. A spokesperson for Los Angeles airport said that what the man did was extremely dangerous and if the aircraft had continued with its takeoff he could have fallen out of the wheel well and been sucked into an engine. The man had been reported missing to the Canadian police and suffers from bipolar disorder, reported Reuters.

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