A Delta Air Lines flight from Houston to Atlanta made an emergency landing Wednesday morning (February 18) after a passenger caused a disruption that initially was reported as an attempt to access the cockpit.

Delta Flight 2557, a Boeing 717 aircraft carrying 85 passengers and five crew members, had just taken off from Houston's Hobby Airport when the incident occurred. The pilot declared an emergency and requested security upon landing.

"We had a passenger get up and try to access the cockpit," the pilot told air traffic control in a radio recording captured by Broadcastify. "Can you coordinate and have security standing by?"

However, Delta later clarified that while the passenger exhibited "unruly and unlawful behavior toward other customers," they "did not make contact with or attempt to access the flight deck."

Passenger Josh Lenasus described the attack to WRDW: "30 minutes into it, I was just sitting there, and a guy walks aggressively by me and aggressively back and then bumped into my shoulder and starts completely wailing on my head. He punched me three times and then walked back and started attacking another gentleman behind me."

Another passenger, Amber Ward, reported that the man attacked multiple people, including women. "He hit a lot of people, and I did not want him to keep attacking people," Ward said. "Then the girls were crying. I think he stumbled onto a couple of girls or hit a couple girls, and they were crying."

The pilot told air traffic control that the disruptive passenger was restrained: "He is in cuffs in the back of the aircraft, but he did assault another passenger, so we would like that other passenger checked out."

The plane returned to Hobby Airport approximately 17 minutes after takeoff, where it was met by law enforcement.

"The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior," the airline said in a statement. "We apologize to our customers for this experience and delay in their travels."

After the incident, the flight resumed its journey to Atlanta, arriving about 90 minutes behind schedule. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

This event adds to the growing number of unruly passenger incidents. In 2025, there were 1,621 unruly passengers reported to the FAA, with 126 cases already recorded in 2026.

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