An unruly passenger attempted to open the doors of a Copa Airlines aircraft moments before it landed in Panamá City.
All appeared to be well on Copa Airlines flight CM204, which departed from Brasilia, Brazil, when the man rushed to the back of the airplane and confronted a flight attendant.
Travelers Marcelo Ribeiro and Everaldo Torres leaped into action when the passenger attempted to take woman hostage.
'He tried to take the flight attendant hostage with a plastic knife from the food that was served on the plane,' Ribeiro told Brazilian news outlet G1.
'The flight attendant called for help. When he went to take her hostage, I stepped in front of her and tried to hold her back.'
Ribeiro attempted to reason with man and then brawled when he noticed him trying to open door open.
'I went over there, I went to talk to him, that's when he let go of the girl and went to the door to open the door,' Ribeiro said. 'I held him, I tried to hold him, we got into a physical fight, four other passengers also came to hold him and he was upset.'
Maria Ferraz, who was also on the flight, said the man was swearing a lot.
'He swore a lot and it was really tense because he came back two or three times,' she said. 'Twice, I think. Twice to actually try to open the plane door.'
A video filmed by a passenger showed one of the customer passengers placing the man in a headlock and a crew member trying to restrain him with plastic handcuffs.
A photo showed the man sitting in his seat with his blood stained around his lips and nose while a man stood near him.
The captain took a couple of more minutes than usual to land the aircraft at Tocumen International Airport, where Panamanian authorities arrested him.
'On Copa Airlines flight CM204 from Brasília to Panama, today, November 5, 2024, there was a situation during the landing phase in which an unruly passenger tried to open one of the aircraft doors,' the airline said in a statement.
'The crew acted quickly and, with the assistance of some passengers, applied the necessary safety protocols to control the situation until landing in Panama.'
Copa Airlines said that 'thanks to the professionalism of the crew, the safety of the flight and passengers was protected.'