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On Thursday, a remarkable incident took place at Melbourne Avalon Airport, Australia. A 17-year-old boy boarded a JetStar Airbus A320 with a loaded rifle.
Passengers aboard the Airbus, which was scheduled to fly to Sydney, saw the teenager walk up the aircraft stairs. Dressed in safety clothing, the teenager was assumed to be a technician. The crew reckoned this to be strange, as all inspections had just been completed. When the cabin crew asked him questions about his arrival, the boy became visibly irritated and pointed his loaded rifle at one of the cabin members. He also reportedly shouted that there was a bomb in his bag.
In the first row, a former professional boxer had taken his seat and saw everything happen. The man didn’t hesitate for a moment and pushed the stewardess away. He grabbed the weapon, broke it, and threw it off the stairs. He then tried to overpower the boy together with other passengers. They successfully managed to do so. The police quickly arrived at the Airbus to arrest the boy.
After the authorities took the disruptor off the Australian airline‘s plane, the passengers left the aircraft. The airport closed for the rest of the day. It is still unclear what the teenager’s motive was. It later turned out that he had entered the airport grounds by cutting a hole in the fence. The boy is yet to be charged for his actions.
Weapon transport
Although such situations rarely occur, travellers sometimes try to bring weapons onto an airplane. In 2023, a 14-year-old boy at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, wanted to check in an airsoft rifle. Internally, such weapons are only suitable for firing harmless plastic pellets. Externally, however, they look like realistic copies of firearms and therefore fall under the Weapons and Ammunition Act. There are strict requirements for transporting weapons that fall under the law. The teenager was clearly unaware of this and had to surrender his weapon. Furthermore, an American rapper was recently convicted for attempting to bring a loaded handgun onto a plane.”