A high school student was arrested in Texas after AirDropping a bomb threat via his apple device to passengers on an American Airlines flight to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) from El Paso International Airport (ELP).
The student was returning from a humanitarian school trip when he sent the message containing the threat, which forced flight AA2051 to return to the gate where the FBI West Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force was to search the aircraft.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the aircraft, an Airbus A319, was taxiing when passengers on the plane were airdropped a message that read: “I have a bomb. Would like to share a photo.”
The bomb squad reportedly searched the aircraft, passengers and luggage until authorities deemed the threat non-credible.
The student, who confessed to sending the message, is now in custody with the El Paso Juvenile Probation Department. He faces one count of creating a false report or alarm, which is a felony in Texas.
AA 2051 eventually departed and arrived in ORD airport more than five hours later than originally scheduled.