Man Charges Toward Cockpit During Flight

[aalmiss]

Friday, December 5, 2003 ï Last updated 5:42 p.m. PT

[b:81fde2efa2]Man Charges Toward Cockpit During Flight[/b:81fde2efa2]

By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A former prison inmate on a Honolulu-to-Seattle flight charged toward the cockpit, shouting that he wanted to see the pilot, and was subdued by undercover air marshals who were on board to monitor him, officials said.

The incident involved 29-year-old Reno U. Maiava and occurred about 2 1/2 hours into Thursday's Northwest Airlines Flight 924, according to Dave Adams, spokesman for the federal air marshal service. Maiava, who spent 10 years in prison on two assault convictions, is on active supervision, according to the Washington state Department of Corrections.

Maiava leveled obscenities at federal officials during his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Friday. His hands and feet were shackled and he was accompanied by about 10 U.S. marshals, said Lawrence Lincoln, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"It was quite a spectacle," Lincoln said.

He did not enter a plea to a charge of interfering with a flight crew. A detention hearing was set for next Thursday.

Maiava was being monitored and will have to get permission to leave the state of Washington, said Veltry Johnson, corrections department spokesman.

He was disruptive before the flight and got up during it, knocking into an elderly woman, Adams said. He also screamed "Where's my shirt?" at one point, then charged toward the cockpit shouting that he wanted to see the captain, the spokesman said.

Adams said a federal air marshal identified himself and told the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Maiava to put his hands behind his head. He refused, and the other two marshals then identified themselves and, after a brief altercation, handcuffed him, Adams said.

The passengers applauded the arrest when the flight landed, air marshal Edward G. Kinateder wrote in charging papers.

Maiava was released from the Washington state Department of Corrections' Special Needs Unit in May 2001. State officials contacted air marshals and encouraged them to place agents aboard a Seattle-to-Honolulu flight that he took Nov. 19, Adams said.

Due to concerns Maiava could endanger people on his return flight, three marshals were assigned to it, he said.

Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the airline is cooperating with authorities.
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Click here to see the actual article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper.