Airline passenger gets 19-month sentence. US says he tried to enter cockpit and open an exit door
An airline passenger who tried to make a shank from plastic cutlery and open the cockpit door during a flight has been sentenced to 19 months in prison
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A airline passenger who tried to craft a shank from plastic cutlery and open the cockpit door during a flight has been sentenced to 19 months in prison.
A federal judge in Missouri handed down the sentence Thursday against Juan Remberto Rivas, 52.
Prosecutors sought a term of between 41 months and 51 months, although they said Rivas was affected by his use of methamphetamine and wasn’t trying to cause a crash.
The incident happened on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in February 2022. Witnesses told an FBI agent that Rivas tried to use plastic cutlery and his shirt sleeve to make a shank, pushed a service cart into a flight attendant, and tried to open both the cockpit door and one of the plane’s exit doors.
