Yesterday morning, an American Airlines domestic flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in the state of North Carolina to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) in Pennsylvania took a rather alarming turn. Indeed, air traffic control transmissions involving the service have surfaced online, with one particular clip featuring a pilot telling ATC that one of the passengers had bitten a fellow flyer.

The incident appears to have formed part of a wider and more general rampage, rather than being a sole targeted attack, given that the pilot went on to say that the individual was “trying to fight everybody.” American Airlines confirmed that a medical professional on board the flight had assisted the passenger, with the service also having been met by emergency services upon arrival in Philadelphia.

Not Your Average Domestic Flight

Credit: Great Circle Map

American Airlines flight AA3046 is a daily US domestic service that links its hubs in Charlotte and Philadelphia. While it would be apt for the flight to be operated by a Boeing 757, given that it is timed to leave North Carolina at 7:57 AM, American Airlines no longer flies these narrowbody twinjets: instead, Flightradar24 shows that this service is operated by Airbus A320s. It typically takes just over an hour.

Such flights are the backbone of American Airlines’ domestic network, and they play a key role in keeping the US connected. However, yesterday’s iteration of flight AA3046 was far from run-of-the-mill, with CBS News reporting that one of its passengers had bitten another flyer. As shown in the video above, this resulted in some rather unusual air traffic control transmissions, with the pilot saying to ATC that:

“I don’t know (…) if he’s hallucinating or whatever, but he just bit a passenger, and he’s trying to fight everybody.”

Emergency Services Met The Flight Upon Its Arrival

Credit: Shutterstock

American Airlines has since confirmed in a statement that a medical professional who was traveling on board flight AA3046 yesterday morning “assisted the customer” who was said to be suffering a medical emergency at the time of their rampage. Still, the pilots of the flight did not want to take any chances, and thus requested to air traffic control that emergency services would meet the jet on arrival.

This was done “just as a precaution,” and American Airlines later confirmed that medical personnel had indeed met the flight and seen to the passenger after the service arrived at Philadelphia International Airport. However, according to CBS News, it remains unclear as to whether or not law enforcement was also present. In any case, the flight landed punctually at 9:42 AM after an 8:39 AM departure.

Interestingly, tracking data made available by Flightradar24 does highlight the fact that, despite the punctual arrival, the next flight (AA1738 to Providenciales) operated by N111US, the aircraft upon which the bite attack took place, left almost two hours late. Indeed, it took to the skies at 12:39 PM yesterday, compared to a scheduled 11:00 AM departure. However, it is unclear whether this is linked to the bite attack.

American Is Not The Only Carrier To Experience Such An Incident Of Late

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Alarmingly, this is far from the only recent biting incident to have sunk its teeth into the fabric of commercial aviation this year. Indeed, a quick search of ‘bite’ on Simple Flying highlights the fact that, only last month, an aggressive passenger was banned from flying after biting a flight attendant on a Qantas service from Melbourne (MEL) to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). That incident forced the flight to divert to Tahiti.

Further back in time, but still occurring this year, a JetBlue flight from Palm Beach International Airport in Florida (PBI) to Westchester County Airport (HPN) in New York State was delayed by four hours in March after a passenger bit a flight attendant before departure. This came a year after a Delta Air Lines passenger bit a fellow flyer on a flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).