Man Charged in Opening of Plane Door

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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/man-arrested-for-opening-plane=
s-emergency-door/

March 30, 2009, 5:29 pm

Man Charged in Opening of Plane Door

By Sewell Chan

In an era of frequent flight delays, inadequate leg room and
interminable waiting on the tarmac, the desire of passengers to leave
their airplanes as quickly as possible is understandable. But, the
authorities say, a 60-year-old British man took that desire too far.

The man, Robert McDonald, was charged with recklessly endangering the
lives of passengers by opening an emergency exit door while his plane
=97 delayed for hours =97 idled on a taxiway during a layover at John F.
Kennedy International Airport, the Queens district attorney, Richard
A. Brown, announced on Monday.

Mr. McDonald was detained pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court
on charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree
criminal tampering. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail.

Mr. Brown said that Mr. McDonald was aboard Delta Flight 149 around
7:45 p.m. Sunday as it sat at Kennedy Airport, on a layover from Las
Vegas to England, when he opened the emergency door and activated an
emergency indicator light in the cockpit.

=93The flight was delayed for several hours at Kennedy Airport last
night due to inclement weather conditions,=94 Mr. Brown said in a
statement. =93Apparently, the defendant wanted to get off the plane so
he opened the emergency exit door. Fortunately, members of the flight
crew were able to stop him before he could fully open the door and
deploy the emergency chute.=94

Mr. McDonald was arrested by police officers of the Port Authority of
New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

Mr. McDonald =93caused a substantial interruption and delay in the
flight,=94 and his actions might require =93replacement of the plane=92s
emergency chute,=94 the district attorney=92s office said.

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