Authorities say airline passenger fought flight attendant, tried to open exit door midair
Cedar Rapids, Jul 18 (AP): A regional airline flight heading to Detroit had to make an emergency landing in eastern Iowa after a passenger fought with a flight attendant and tried to open an exit door midair, according to the pilot's communication with air traffic controllers.
The pilot of the SkyWest Airlines Flight 3612 contacted the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids shortly after 6 pm Thursday requesting to land because of a passenger causing a disturbance.
“He's in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit,” the pilot said, according to audio captured by LiveATC.
The disturbance happened shortly after the SkyWest flight departed from Omaha, Nebraska, around 5.30 pm Thursday, according to police. The flight was diverted to and landed safely at the Cedar Rapids airport, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Once on the ground, local police boarded and arrested the 23-year-old Omaha man, Cedar Rapids police said.
The flight was able to travel on to Detroit later Thursday night, according to a statement issued by SkyWest Airlines, a Utah-based regional carrier that operates flights for major airlines like United, Delta, American and Alaska Airlines.
“SkyWest has zero tolerance for unruly behaviour as safety for our customers and crew is our top priority,” the statement read.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Divya holds Humpy, tiebreaker next
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): International Master Divya Deshmukh gave nothing away and held higher-ranked Grandmaster and compatriot Koneru Humpy to an easy draw on Sunday to force the final into a tie-breaker where games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Divya, who did not make utmost use of her promising opening in the first game of the match, was far more composed against a Queen pawn opening and faced little trouble playing with black pieces.
Humpy, got the optical advantage with her pair of bishops out of the opening but Divya knew that if she placed her knights perfectly, white will not be able to create many problems. As it happened in the game after two minor pieces, the pair of rooks also changed hands and the queen-and-minor-piece endgame only offered little hope.
Humpy tried to make some headway with a pawn sacrifice in the endgame but in the process her bishop pair was gone, and though a pawn plus, Divya had to cover some weaknesses.
After the dust settled, Humpy recovered the pawn back and Divya repeated the position through checks to sign peace in 34 moves.
The tiebreaker will see two games of 15 minutes each with a 10 second increment after every move is played.
If the scores are still level, the players will play another set of 10 minutes per game with a 10 second increment. If the tie doesn't get resolved, it will be two more games of five minutes plus three second increment.
Should the deadlock continue, one game will be played with three minutes to both players with a two second increment unless one player ends up winner.
In the play-off for the third place between China's Zhongyi Tan and Lei Tingjie, the match looked headed towards a draw.
Results: Koneru Humpy (Ind) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind); Lei Tingjie (Chn) playing Tan Zhongyi (Chn).
