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The FBI says the pilot of
a Fiji Airways flight from Los Angeles was forced to divert the aircraft to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport this weekend after a passenger threatened to kill everyone and punched
another passenger.
Federal prosecutors charged Nathan Patrick Young with interfering with flight attendants and crew members. Young appeared in U.S. District Court on Monday and remains in custody pending a bail hearing on Friday.
The flight left Los Angeles International Airport late Saturday bound for Nadi International Airport in Fiji. The FBI says it received word that the flight was being diverted to Honolulu early Sunday.
Flight attendants told FBI special agents that they moved Young to a seat near the front of the aircraft after he had a confrontation with another passenger at his assigned seat farther back. The attendant assigned to sit next to Young told the FBI that Young, still upset over the confrontation, swore at other passengers around him and punched and kicked the window and wall in front of him, leaving bloodstains on the wall and ceiling. The attendant also said Young swore at him and threatened to kill him and “all of you.”
The FBI says Young also charged at the attendant and punched another passenger in the face. The passenger was attempting to speak with Young to calm him down. That same passenger applied wrist restraints on Young after another flight attendant held down Young.
Young was still wearing the wrist restraints when the aircraft landed in Honolulu and FBI agents arrested him.