Man hailed a hero after helping restrain unruly American Airlines passenger

By Amelia Mugavero

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    MCKINNEY, Texas (KTVT) — A McKinney man is being called a hero, but he claims he simply, “did what needed to be done.”

Doug McCright was a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Milwaukee to DFW and helped restrain an unruly passenger.

The unruly passenger is in FBI custody and the incident is now at the center of a federal investigation by both the FBI and FAA.

“As often as is I’ve flown, I’ve just never seen anything remotely close to this, not nowhere,” said McCright.

McCright said he was upgraded to first class on his Tuesday morning flight, and everything was business as usual until it wasn’t.

“And, this gentleman comes up and starts talking with the flight attendant, and you could tell the conversation was not going right,” McCright recalled. He said halfway through the flight, the unruly passenger screamed that he wanted to get off the plane and lunged toward the exit and tried to open the door.

“Here we are 30,000 feet in the air,” said McCright. ” And so, I just grabbed him from behind. And, I mean, he was maybe 18 inches from being able to pull that handle on the door.”

McCright and other passengers rushed into action to restrain the man, even using duct tape that is kept on planes in case of emergencies.

“It was just chaos, you know, for a few minutes,” McCright said.

According to the FAA, more than 2,000 unruly passenger incidents have been reported every year since 2022, with more than 1800 reported this year so far. Each violation can be fined up to $37,000.

Security experts say violence and stress levels escalate the most during major elections and holidays and believe there could be an increase in passenger incidents in the next few weeks.

“Airports and airlines screen for weapons, they’re not really screening for emotional regularity. And I think that, especially this time of year. That’s something that they’re going to want to take a real good look at,” said Spencer Coursen, founder of Coursen Security Group, a threat management firm. “I think that leading with compassion and understanding are great ways to go about just everyday life, not just when we’re traveling, and also just understand these, especially during the holiday season, are going to be times when people are a little more emotionally fragile.”

McCright and the other good samaritans who helped took a quick picture together when they landed. McCright joked that it will be a moment none of them will soon forget.

“I was just there, and I did what needed to be done. We made a difference and there’s 100+ people that are alive on that flight because of that,” McCright said.

Authorities say no one was seriously hurt on that flight and the FAA and FBI are investigating.

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