Canadian tourist opens Thai Airways flight door just before takeoff

A Canadian man was arrested in Chiang Mai, Thailand after he opened the door of a Thai Airways flight which was gearing up for take-off from Chiang Mai airport that was bound for Bangkok, said the local broadcaster ThaiPBS and officials.

Facebook user Ananya Tiangtae, who was on the plane, wrote, "The whole plane was in chaos" and added that the passenger was escorted off the plane by the officials.

"What if we were 30,000 feet above sea level? What would happen?" wrote Ananya.

Plane returned to terminal, went through security inspections

Speaking about the incident on Thursday (Feb 8), Chiang Mai Airport director Ronnakorn Chalermsaenyakorn said that a passenger opened the emergency door which led to the activation of the inflatable slide because of which the aircraft was unable to take off.

Ronnakorn said that the plane was sent back to the terminal and the passengers disembarked from the flight after safety inspections were carried out by the technicians.

He said that because of the disruption more than a dozen other flights were affected at the airport.

The aircraft was given clearance for safe departure with all the crew members and passengers after the inspection, said Thai Airways.

Later, the passenger was seen in custody at a local police station, as reported by local TV station ThaiPBS, which had identified the male tourist as Canadian.

"He admitted that he opened the door, the reason was people were coming after him ... from his behaviour, it's likely he was hallucinating," said the passenger's lawyer, Jirawat Yarnkiatpakdee, while speaking to ThaiPBS.

13 flightsaffected by the incident

The air traffic control tower was informed about the incident at 10:05 pm local time when Thai Airways flight TG121 was waiting in line on the runway.

The Airbus A320 was not able to move immediately and temporarily prevented other flights from landing and taking off, said the statement.

Watch:New aircraft can travel faster than speed of sound

Wing Commander Ronnakorn Chalermsanyakorn, director of Chiang Mai International Airport in a statement said, “After receiving the alert, we reached out to Thai Airways mechanics to get into the site to cut the evacuation slide off, then we towed the aircraft back to landing pit number 15."

The director said that 13 flights in total have been affected by the incident, which includes eight flights that were forced to circle in the air before they were cleared to land.

Ronnakorn said that in total 2,295 passengers were affected by the delays.

(With inputs from agencies)