Southwest Airlines Passenger Hospitalized After Opening Emergency Exit & Jumping Off Wing Of Plane

A Southwest Airlines passenger was hospitalized on Sunday night after he opened the emergency exit of the aircraft, climbed onto the wing of the plane and jumped to the ground while waiting for the plane to take off.

The incident occurred around 7:41 p.m. central time at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The man, 38, was taken to a local hospital after being deemed “incoherent and not fully aware of his surroundings.”

His behavior appeared to be the result of a “mental health emergency,” according to a release from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

As of Monday afternoon, the man is still in the hospital and federal authorities are conducting a thorough investigation.

“We commend our flight and grounds crew for their swift action and apologize to our customers for their inconvenience,” said a representative for Southwest Airlines in a statement.

The representative added that the flight was able to depart for Atlanta and eventually made it to its last stop, Baltimore.

Southwest suffered a major PR black eye this summer when it was forced to cancel thousands of flights due to a computer failure.