The passengers on United flight 5840 might have heard of a clown car before. But a clown plane?
A routine flight from Las Vegas to San Diego turned into a three ring circus for the TSA and the airport police at San Diego International Airport this Sunday.
A passenger on the plane Carlos Martinez, 54 described the biggest shock of his life when a man dressed as a circus clown emerged from the cockpit as soon as the aircraft stopped moving at the San Diego Airport.
“He stared down the aisle giggling for a second, unlatched the door and ran right out. The flight attendants were floored,” said Martinez.
It was not immediately clear why the captain and the second officer who had reported to work at McCarran International Airport earlier in the morning were absent from the flight deck.
The flying clown was met with cheer inside the terminal building. While making his way to the exit he blew several balloon animals for delighted children.
But then instead of proceeding towards the baggage claim, the runaway clown entered the security screening area and begun to expose himself to stunned TSA officers.
The clown managed to escape the officers and get inside an Uber vehicle waiting at the curb.
The spokesperson for United Airlines said that the company employs performing artists to diffuse in-cabin tension in the light of the recent incidents where passengers were targeted by the United employees, but the clowns who work for United are typically not trained to operate passenger aircraft.