The passenger who claimed he had a bomb and tried to storm the cockpit of a United Airlines flight on Monday night has been identified as a Honduran national who had been deported from the United States twice, immigration officials said.
Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was aboard United flight 2174, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 carrying 46 passengers and six crew members from Newark Liberty International Airport to New Orleans. The flight departed at about 9:30 p.m. on Monday. During the flight, Gomez-Alberto began acting irrationally, told crew members he had a bomb in a backpack and tried to enter the cockpit.
The pilots sent a hijack alert to air traffic control, squawking 7500, the code for an unlawful interference, and reported an attempted breach of the cockpit, a Level 4 threat, the highest aviation alert used in hijacking situations. The crew persuaded Gomez-Alberto to move to the back of the aircraft, where he was detained, and the plane landed safely at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport at about 11:15 p.m. Sheriff's deputies met the aircraft and arrested him without incident.
Gomez-Alberto, who was living in the Bronx, was charged with communicating false information about planned arson and terrorizing, and is being held without bail at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. Federal authorities are evaluating additional charges. Making a bomb threat on an aircraft is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The Department of Homeland Security said Gomez-Alberto had been arrested three times by the Border Patrol for illegally entering the United States and was deported in 2011 and 2014. He was freed from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in January 2020 after a judge ordered his release pending removal proceedings. ICE lodged a detainer for him on Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident. No explosive device was found, and none of the passengers or crew was injured.
