A 17-year-old US citizen opened the emergency door after his plane landed, slid down the wing and jumped on to the tarmac at San Francisco Airport. The teenager removed the door minutes after the Copa Airlines flight arrived from Central America, San Francisco Tuesday afternoon, the Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said.
An airport construction crew working nearby confronted the boy and held him until police arrived and arrested him.
The teenager, who appeared to be in emotional distress during the flight, was not injured, Mr Yakel said.
Other passengers said the boy who was travelling alone, seemed fidgety and anxious throughout the seven-hour flight from Panama City, Panama, and that by the time passengers realised the door had been opened, he was already on the tarmac, running.
