United Flight Attendant Deploys Emergency Slide to Exit for Unknown Reasons

A flight attendant deployed the emergency slide after her flight landed safely on Monday morning.

For reasons that not yet known, a United Airlines flight attendant deployed the emergency slide and exited a plane on Monday morning after the flight landed safely at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. There were no emergencies and no visible reason why she deployed the slide.

A video shared on Twitter of the incident appears to show the plane already at the gate when the slide inflated. Something, presumably her bag, is thrown out the door of the plane, then the flight attendant slides down and walks over to the item she threw out. Reports say she then calmly walks away from the plane, but that is not seen in the video. She has since been suspended from duty, the Huffington Post reported.

We just got off the phone with this flt att.’s family who says woman is doing well & says it is a pvt family matter. pic.twitter.com/v2XtNRYhcL

— Jace Larson, KPRC (@jacelarson) April 5, 2016

Though no current motive is known, the airline believes the stunt was intentional.

“We hold all of our employees to the highest standard,” United Airlines said in a statement. “The unsafe behavior is unacceptable and does not represent the more than 20,000 flight attendants who ensure the safety of our customers.”

Aside from a medical emergency at the back of the plane—a man was having breathing trouble and needed to be removed from the plane in a wheelchair—everything seemed to be business as usual until the flight attendant deployed the slide.

“When we landed … we were told to stay in our seats as de-planing would take a bit longer,” passenger Jonah Vella told Click 2 Houston. “Everything seemed to be pretty standard.”

[Photo: KPRC]