A Delta Air Lines passenger was charged on Friday with instigating a midair brawl with flight attendants and other passengers who fought desperately to restrain him as he tried opening the exit door of a plane bound from Seattle to China.
Joseph Daniel Hudek IV, 23, of Tampa, Florida, was arrested on Thursday when the Delta jetliner, a Boeing 767-300 with 221 people aboard, flew back to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for an unscheduled landing two hours after takeoff.
The plane was turned around due to an in-flight altercation detailed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an affidavit filed the next day as part of the criminal complaint against Hudek, who was a first-class passenger on the flight.