Death on Airplane After Emergency Landing Leaves Many Unanswered Questions

AP ^

[TheOtherOne]

Death on Airplane After Emergency Landing Leaves Many Unanswered Questions
By Tom Hays Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 18, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) - Alexander Siess was on a recent flight from Mexico City to Paris when, authorities say, he became so unruly the pilot made an emergency landing at Kennedy International Airport.

Minutes after the 767 jet touched down, the 25-year-old Austrian was dead.

The circumstances of the little-noticed death last weekend - which may have involved alcohol and a violent struggle - remain murky.

An autopsy on Siess was inconclusive; toxicology and other tests were pending.

"We've been told it's an open investigation and we should wait for the outcome," said Gregor Csorsz, spokesman for the Austrian consulate in Manhattan, which notified Siess' parents about his death.

Csorsz said Siess was a student from St. Anton, but knew nothing else about his background.

Calls to the parents' home in Austria on Friday went unanswered. Another Austrian official in New York, Sigurd Pacher, said that the victim's brother traveled to the city, but was too upset to talk.

"He's still trying to cope with what happened," said Pacher, who did not give the brother's name.

Contacted this week, authorities and airline officials offered only fragmented accounts of what happened Oct. 11 on AeroMexico Flight 5.

Sometime after departing Mexico City, the pilot sought permission to land in New York "for the safety of the passengers and the plane," AeroMexico spokesman Mario Maraboto said.

Siess, who apparently was traveling alone and toting a bottle of whiskey, grew drunk and belligerent, Maraboto said. A male flight attendant confined him to his seat while the plane landed, the spokesman added.

Three U.S. law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, described a more dire situation. They said they were told Siess reportedly "freaked out" and "charged the cockpit." As many as 12 other passengers joined in a struggle to subdue him, then tied him up with belts and stockings, the officials said.

One of the law enforcement officials said a physician on the flight may have injected Siess with a sedative as well - part of an initial report that prompted the FBI and other federal agents to respond to Kennedy.

The Port Authority Police Department, which took over the ongoing investigation, declined comment on the reports.

By the time the plane reached the gate, Siess was in cardiac arrest, Port Authority police said. An ambulance took him to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 9 p.m.

Authorities grounded the plane long enough to question the crew and passengers. Then, shortly after 1 a.m., the plane was allowed to take off again for Paris.

On Friday, Siess's body sat in a Queens morgue, unclaimed.

AP-ES-10-18-03 0141EDT

[TheOtherOne]

Bad time to be a beligerent drunk on an airplane. As many here say, a hijacker would be overcome by passengers - as this drunken fool apparently was.

[LadyDoc]

actually, those who work with violent people have to be trained in how to restrain without killing a person.

Every once in awhile you hear about such deaths, either by police with a suspect or in a jail,or by medical personnel in mental hospitals...

if drugs/alcohol are involved, the danger is higher since patients may vomit and choke

This is not the first time passengers accidentally killed a violent person. Before 911, a mental patient went crazy on a SWAirline flight and died when passengers restrained him...

As for sedatives, that is always a danger. I once treated a patient with chest pain on an overseas flight. Another doc had an emergency kit with injectable sedatives/pain shots, but I refused to give it because I was worried about the rare reaction of stopping the patient's breathing. Instead we gave him a pill, and the pain finally settled down before we landed in Tokyo...

[csvset]

{Sigh} He could have been a future governor!

He was drunk fool and suffered for it. Too f'ing bad, end of story.

[Bon mots]

Anyone gets violent and charges the cockpit on a flight that I'm on, I'm going to try to kill him, Not restrain him. A restrained man can break free. A killed man can't. There are probably a lot of other people who feel the same. Looks like some of them were on that flight.

Good work passengers. Catastrophe averted. Lives saved.

[1234]

Anyone gets violent and charges the cockpit on a flight that I'm on, I'm going to try to kill him, Not restrain him.

AGREED; for your protection from prosecution, don't reveal your intention.

[jigsaw]

On Friday, Siess's body sat in a Queens morgue...

No doubt with his tray table up.

[alisasny]

An extremely drunk person prone to violent outbursts when drunk is capable of huge strength. Probably even more than if sober.

[doberville]

Good one!!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

This was an episode of "CSI"... man acting erratically on a plane tried to charge into the cockpit, passengers took him down and accidentally killed him. Turned out the guy wasn't drunk, although he had been drinking. He had some brain disorder or injury that combined with the alcohol and lower air pressure in the cabin caused him to freak out.

Anyone who remembers the episode better than I do, feel free to correct me!

[Kay Soze]

I fly alot and know full well that there are no more hijackings for cash and prizes.

The passangers will take any threat out.