United Airlines crew and passengers had to stop what court documents describe as an unprovoked beating of a man on a flight on Monday. A criminal affidavit alleges that as Everett Chad Nelson was walking back from the bathroom about two hours into the flight, he stopped at seat 12F and “began physically attacking a sleeping male passenger.” Nelson punched the still-unidentified man “repeatedly in the face and head until blood was drawn,” court documents say, adding the incident “lasted approximately one minute.” Court documents add that Nelson attacked the other man “without notice,” and there was “no indication” that the victim fought back “in defense.” United Airlines released a statement thanking its crew and other passengers on Flight 2247 for their “quick action” in restraining Nelson. United says the flight from San Francisco to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia “landed safely and was met by paramedics and local law enforcement.” The FBI is investigating the incident, the most recent case of an unruly passenger on a commercial flight to make headlines. The Federal Aviation Administration says airlines have reported more than 1,700 such incidents in 2024.<br/>
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After an eight-year inquiry, Egyptian investigators have controversially concluded that ignition of explosive material behind the cockpit of an EgyptAir Airbus A320 resulted in a fire and the loss of the aircraft, an explanation dismissed by French counterparts. The twinjet – operating from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Cairo on 19 May 2016 – came down in the Mediterranean Sea after radar contact was lost in Egyptian airspace, with the aircraft at 37,000ft some 7nm south of the KUMBI waypoint. None of the 66 occupants on board the aircraft (SU-GCC) survived. The inquiry has been the subject of friction between French and Egyptian air accident investigation authorities, with France’s BEA arguing that evidence from the cockpit-voice recorder, avionics and debris point to a rapidly-developing cockpit fire. According to the Egyptian air accident investigation department’s newly-released final conclusions, three scenarios were drawn up to explain the loss of the jet. It considered whether the fire started on the first officer’s side, enriched by an oxygen leak, a scenario consistent with a hissing sound heard on the cockpit-voice recorder.<br/>