Passengers Subdue Unruly Passenger in the Air

Oct. 9 -- When a hysterical passenger stormed the cockpit door and a plane headed to Chicago from Los Angeles dropped and swerved violently, the 162 passengers on board thought their worst nightmare was coming true.

"Immediately, everyone thought that we were going to crash and that a terrorist had taken over the plane," said Carviz Carlos, a Chicago nurse who was on board American Airlines Flight 1238. Carlos was on his way home after visiting relatives in Los Angeles.

Almost as quickly as that fear passed through passengers' already tense minds, two pilots and four passengers stormed into action. They subdued Edward Coburn, 30, who had been screaming, "We are going to crash into the Sears Tower!"

"No one thought twice," Carlos said in a telephone interview. "They just acted and they didn't waste a second. They just went up and tackled him."

Passengers Thought it Was a Terrorist Attack

It was three hours into the four-hour flight and the plane was only about 40 minutes from Chicago on Monday when witnesses said Coburn stormed the cockpit, yelling, "We are going to crash the Sears Tower like they did the World Trade Center!"

Coburn was able to get into the cockpit and disturb the pilot. The Boeing 767 swooped, turning first left and then right.

Both passengers and crew members thought with horror of the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackings, Carlos said.

"Everyone on the plane was saying that they thought it was a terrorist and then everyone started pulling out cell phones and started calling people and saying their goodbyes," he said.

A flight attendant told passengers, "Get that guy!" and "four big men jumped to action," Carlos said. With the help of the two pilots, they were able to pin Coburn down.

A voice was then heard on the loudspeaker telling passengers that "there was a situation" and asking if there was a doctor or nurse on board.

Carlos, a nurse at Chicago's Advocate Home Health, had been sitting about six rows behind Coburn and his father. Flight attendants gave him a medical kit, and Carlos gave the frenzied man a shot containing 110 milligrams of Valium and 50 milligrams of Benadryl.