‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to blow up:’ Oklahoma couple recalls anxious moments on Hawaii-bound flight

When Jennifer and Shane Winn and their children boarded American Airlines Flight 31 out of Los Angeles a little over a week ago, it was with the excitement of any family taking their first trip to Hawaii.

But shortly after takeoff, the couple began to understand they were cooped up in an airplane, they were thousands of feet in the air and they could be in big trouble.

The Winns, who run an air conditioning business in Woodward, Oklahoma, were among many others on the full flight to Hawaii on May 19. They were sitting near a now-infamous Turkish national who was arrested by FBI agents upon landing in Honolulu.

Anil Uskanil, 25, was seated directly behind the Winn family. He was arrested after the six-hour flight throughout which he was reported by the Winns and other passengers to have spent shouting in another language as well as English, shaking his head back and forth violently, wandering the aisles carrying a laptop computer and in others ways acting strange and suspicious.

About three hours into the flight, Uskanil suddenly rushed into the first class cabin and allegedly lunged for the cabin door, according to several passengers who were seated in first class. The man was subdued with the support of Shane Winn and others on the plane.

This week the Winns returned home from their dream vacation, tanned and relaxed, but still a little traumatized. They both said they miss the beauty of Hawaii and both are still thinking about their five days of family time together in one of the most relaxing locations on earth.

But they also won’t soon forget the events of what they called the longest flight of their lives: a flight that for a few moments, both Shane and Jennifer thought might be theirs and their children’s last moments on earth.

“It was the first time we had flown since before 9/11 and with what was all was going on, you couldn’t help but think about 9/11,” Jennifer said.

The trip begins

The family had won the trip to Hawaii as a prize.

On Friday the Winns sat down with the Woodward, Oklahoma News a day after returning from their trip to talk about the nightmare flight that took them to their dream vacation. The couple talked with each other as people do, who have shared something remarkable.

“We boarded at LAX and you know, we got on the plane,” Shane said. “Of course you don’t pay attention. There are so many people and all this luggage being thrown around. But (as they boarded) there was somebody sitting in first class that obviously wasn’t supposed to be there and someone was telling him, this was not a first class ticket. I didn’t think anything about it and I just walked on by trying to get to our seat at the back. And at that point, it seemed like that was that.”

Shane added that the couple had noticed the man at the gate, where he had arrived for boarding in a wheelchair.

What the Winns didn’t know at this point was that the man had already been detained briefly for violating security at Los Angeles International Airport when he attempted to walk through a door leading directly outside to an airfield ramp, according to a reported statement from LAX officials.

According to LAX Public Information Officer Frederick Badlissi, even though the man had been drinking, he did not meet criteria used to prevent him from boarding the flight. So he was ticketed by officials and released.

But according to the Winns, all was not well with Uskanil and that became evident quickly.

Family first

“He got up and he walked down the aisle towards his seat, which was immediately behind our daughter,” Shane said. “She was sitting by the window and he was sitting behind her. He sits down. But when he walks by at first, before he sat down, you sort of look at him and hope, ‘Gosh, I hope he is not sitting with us.”

Jennifer added: “His hair was real curly and his eyes had dark circles and he looked…”

“…like he was sick,” Shane said, finishing his wife’s sentence.

“He smelled really bad,” Jennifer said. “It was awful. I don’t know what it was. I never smelled alcohol. But what you could smell, you could really smell. I had no idea what it was.”

“He was making big sighs and blowing out and spitting,” Shane said.

The flight attendants were clear to the Uskanil that this was a long flight and for some reason, they were concerned about him, the Winns said.

Once the plane took off, Jennifer said, Uskanil began “acting really crazy,” turning his head from side to side and making loud noises.

The Winns decided Jennifer should switch seats with their daughter. “We wanted to take her out from in front of him,” Shane said.

As soon as the plane reached cruising altitude, the two men sitting next to Uskanil also got up out of their seats. The couple said the two men stood almost throughout the entire flight, only returning to their seat early in the flight from time to time.

Their son remained in what they felt was an unsafe position, “but there was nothing we could do at this point,” Shane said.

About every 20 to 30 minutes, Uskanil began to act out in a way that made the Winns believe he might have been under the influence of drugs. Then, suddenly, he would appear to pass out or go to sleep.

For the first three hours of the flight, flight attendants attempted to manage Uskanil’s odd behavior.

After several more odd intervals, the Winns watched as Uskanil picked up his laptop and headed to the bathroom.

“When he went, he put his shirt or whatever he was carrying, over his head,” Shane said.

Uskanil had left the bathroom door unlocked and when someone came in accidentally he screamed as if he had been attacked, the Winns said.

Uskanil then exited the bathroom with his coat covering his eyes and he walked toward one of the exit cabin doors. The flight attendant again walked toward him quickly and jumped in front of him, spinning him around and ordered him back to his seat.

At that point, the Winns said flight attendants knew they had a possibly dangerous situation. So they asked Shane to change where he was sitting, so he could react swiftly to help if things became violent.

Shane- “And there was a gentleman sitting across the way too…and he had seen everything and I asked him. He said he would move to the aisle too. About an hour after the bathroom incident, Uskanil gets up and the next thing we know he is down the aisle. I mean, in just a snap and with his laptop he is at the front of the plane. And he has the hood or a towel over his head. I looked for a stewardess because it had been calm and they were sitting down. I went to the back and I told her, ‘Your friend is up to the front of the plane.’

Alarmed, the flight attendant darted up the aisle to stop the man, they said.

Jennifer – “So he (Shane) gets up too and there’s like five or six other guys who all know something is really wrong. It was scary because at one point, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we are going to blow up. We are going to die.’ And he (Shane) said, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. That is how intense it was.”

Time to act

Not sure how he was going to help, with no more authority than the flight attendant was giving him, Shane was right behind the flight attendant, walking quickly toward Uskanil, who now appeared totally out of control.

Shane – Anyway, there were two or three others that were stepping up – you know, like the real Americans. And there was an L.A. cop and he jumped up to help the stewardess.”

The man made it through the curtain and according to other passengers in other reports, there was a scuffle as he attempted to make it to the cockpit door.

Shane – “There was kind of a scuffle between him and her and she got him spun around and the cop from L.A…basically jumped up and took it over from there. Anyway, I started walking back to my seat and the L.A. cop and the stewardess escort him back to his seat, which was, of course, behind us again. The two seats beside this guy were empty now because the other guys had moved.

The off-duty Los Angeles police officer, who has never been named, remained in control of the man throughout the rest of the flight.

“We thought he was an air marshal,” Shane said, “but come to find out, he was just this LA cop who was on vacation.”

According to the Winns, as soon as officials were able to get Uskanil back in his seat, flight attendants began gathering pillows and an empty suitcase. The attendants wrapped Uskanil’s laptop in the pillows and stuffed it into another suitcase for the remainder of the flight.

Early reports about Uskanil being taped to his seat with duct tape and pillows were not true, the Winns said.

According to reports, two U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets escorted the American Airlines plane the rest of the way to Honolulu International Airport.

As soon as the plane landed and taxied to the terminal, the cabin filled with federal agents, the Winns said.

After they deplaned, the Winns were detained by the FBI for about a hour for questioning, they said.

There has been no information released regarding what charges, if any will be brought against Uskanil.

Van Horn writes for the Woodward, Oklahoma News.