ORLANDO, Fla. _ Orlando Melbourne International Airport was closed for about five hours Thursday morning after a student pilot boarded a passenger plane in the airfield's maintenance facility, a spokeswoman said.
The 22-year-old suspect, Nishal Sankat, was arrested, airport spokeswoman Lori Booker said. Chief Renee Purden of the Melbourne Airport Police Department said detectives were interviewing Sankat about his motivations, but do not believe he has any link to terrorism.
The incident started at about 2 a.m. when the suspect drove to the curb outside the airport and left his car running, Booker said. He hopped a fence and boarded a vacant Airbus A321 aircraft belonging to American Airlines, Booker said.
An airport maintenance worker from STS Aviation Group was working in the cockpit when he saw Sankat at the door, according to company president Mark Smith. When the worker realized Sankat didn't have an ID he escorted him off the airplane. Sankat tried to run back toward the plane, but another employee in a golf cart tracked him down and held him until police arrived, Smith said.
"Obviously we're very proud of our two employees," Smith said. "They've all been through the training. When you work at an airport you know what to do in a situation like that. I thought they did an outstanding job."
Smith said it is unlikely Sankat would have been able to get the airplane out because it was "nosed-in" to the hangar and it would have taken a "highly skilled" pilot to back it out.
Booker said Sankat was born in Trinidad and legally entered the United States through Canada. She said he has a Florida driver's license and was a student pilot. He was a part-time student at the Florida Institute of Technology studying aviation and had completed "some flight training in the past," the school said in a statement. The school said it was cooperating with law enforcement.
Police towed Sankat's car after a robotic arm searched it for any explosives, Booker said. Police, the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are involved in the investigation, Booker said.
Sankat was taken to the Brevard County Jail on charges of trespassing, burglary and attempted theft of an aircraft.
All airport employees and passengers were removed from the terminal while the airport was placed on lockdown. The incident delayed two flights, and the airport resumed normal operations at about 7 a.m., Booker said.
This incident comes about a month after a maintenance worker at Seattle's airport stole a plane and crashed it into a nearby island.
