A flight attendant smashed wine bottles on a man who tried to open the exit midair, FBI sa

quote:

---

Armed with fists and an unexplained determination, a man attacked Delta Air Lines crew and passengers Thursday as he tried to pry open an exit door midair, according to the FBI.

Joseph Hudek IV was eventually subdued by multiple people on the Seattle-to-Beijing flight — in a melee where bottles of wine became weapons.

He and more than 200 other people were on board when the plane took off about 5 p.m. from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Nothing about his background, as described in an FBI affidavit, seemed extraordinary: He was 23, flying on a dependent pass, which an airline spokesman told the Seattle Times are sometimes issued to relatives of Delta employees.

Hudek had ordered a single beer before takeoff, and appeared sober, according to the FBI.

The Boeing 767 had been flying about an hour — crossing over Vancouver Island — when Hudek rose from his first-class seat and walked into the bathroom.

He was inside about two minutes, according to the affidavit. Then he “lunged toward the forward right exit door of the aircraft, grabbed the handle” and tried to pull it open.

Two flight attendants immediately tried to stop Hudek, wrote an FBI agent who later interviewed people on the plane. They called for help when he pushed them away and kept trying to force the lever that held the door in place, the agent wrote.

Aftermath:

---