After Ketty Dilone threatened to kill multiple crew members aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Las Vegas, she still managed to assault a flight attendant even while largely immobilized, according to an FBI probable cause affidavit unsealed Wednesday in federal court.<\/p>\n
A bystander captured part of the tirade on video, which was later uploaded to TikTok.<\/p>\n
Dilone, 47, does not yet have an attorney listed in court records and was unable to be contacted. Reached by phone, Dilone\u2019s incredulous niece at first asked if someone was playing a practical joke on her, ultimately declining to comment on the record. Dilone\u2019s daughter did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
In an email, an American Airlines spokesperson told The Independent, \u201cThe safety of our customers and team members is our highest priority. We take this matter very seriously and are working closely with law enforcement on its investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
About halfway through AA flight 2470\u2019s journey on September 16, Dilone left her seat and began \u201cwalking down the aisle and yelling,\u201d the probable cause affidavit states. At the same time, Dilone was \u201ccontinually recording the entire aircraft,\u201d it alleges.<\/p>\n
When asked to stop filming, Dilone became enraged and \u201cstarted to verbally threaten multiple flight attendants,\u201d who notified the captain and co-pilot, the affidavit goes on.<\/p>\n
\u201cDilone made several statements to the effect of, \u2018I will kill you b***h!\u2019\u201d according to the affidavit. \u201cDilone also made aggressive postures towards the flight attendants when they attempted to calm her down.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Dilone continued her \u201cdisturbing and threatening\u201d behavior, the cabin crew \u201cphysically restrained [her] in her seat with flex cuffs around her wrists and her seat belt,\u201d the affidavit continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo prevent Dilone from sliding out of the seat or the flex cuffs, a flight attendant (victim B.B.) taped Dilone\u2019s torso utilizing duct tape,\u201d it says. \u201cAfter B.B. taped Dilone\u2019s torso, Dilone kicked B.B twice[,] striking the back of her legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the affidavit, Dilone first kicked B.B. in the calf\/lower leg, then used both of her feet to kick B.B. behind the knees, causing them to fall forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cDilone\u2019s legs were then restrained with duct tape to prevent further injury to the flight attendants or other passengers,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n
In the footage on TikTok, Dilone can be heard screaming that the flex cuffs are hurting her, adding, \u201cYou don’t know what the f**k I been through, b***h.\u201d She then recounts a tale from childhood of trying to kill her father by putting rat poison in his coffee.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if anybody wants to kill somebody,\u201d Dilone announces to the surrounding travellers, \u201cput rat poison in it, but make sure it’s not expired and make sure you put a lot of it, because it didn’t work for my daddy. He just fell asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
The affidavit says that flight attendants were forced to rearrange passengers seated nearby, moving numerous travellers away from Dilone and placing \u201cvolunteer passengers\u201d next to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, flight attendants had to stand and monitor Dilone during the airplane\u2019s descent, which prevented them from performing their duties of preparing and securing the aircraft for landing,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement met the flight upon landing at Harry Reid International Airport.<\/p>\n
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department took Dilone into custody, after which the FBI, which has jurisdiction over crimes committed aboard U.S. aircraft, booked her on federal charges of interference with a flight crew, and assault by striking, beating, or wounding.<\/p>\n
She was transported to the Henderson Detention Center in Henderson, Nevada.<\/p>\n
In 2005, Dilone was arrested on felony domestic violence charges, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour and received a 30-day suspended sentence, a $340 fine that was waived, and was ordered to attend six months of counselling, county court records show.<\/p>\n
So far this year, the FAA has received 1,154 reports of unruly passengers. In 2024, the agency fielded a total of 2,102 unruly passenger reports, a significant decline from a 2021 peak of 5,973.<\/p>\n
Dilone now faces up to 20 years in prison on the flight crew interference charge, a felony. The assault charge, a misdemeanor, carries up to a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Ketty Dilone threatened to kill multiple crew members aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Las…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,898],"class_list":{"0":"post-29593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-latest-news-ticker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}