TODAY   |  September 27, 2012

Caught on video: Passengers restrain unruly flier

A belligerent passenger on a flight from Chicago to Orange County, Calif., was tackled by fellow fliers and arrested for allegedly interfering with flight crew members. The incident was caught on cell phone video. NBC’s Tom Costello reports.

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>>> fliers restrain an aggressive and unruly passenger. tom costello covers aviation for us. good morning.

>> this happened on united flight 473 from chicago to orange county , california, last night. about an hour into the four-hour flight, a passenger began harassing other passengers and had to be held down by passengers.

>> please help me! they're hurting me! i can't breathe.

>> this is cell phone video shot onboard a united airlines flight from chicago to orange county , california. tuesday night, the 26-year-old was tackled by his fellow passengers who used their own belts to hold him down. nona was seated in the aisle behind him and said the model and actor started bothering her right away.

>> and he turns around a little bit, starts a conversation, immediately starts being a little obnoxious.

>> reporter: she says he was drunk and got physical.

>> and he grabbed my hair and goes no, no, no --

>> i was holding them exactly like this.

>> reporter: as the situation escalated, david trong was one of several people who intervened and held durani down for three hours.

>> looked at every one of us and said i'm going to kill you and your entire family.

>> reporter: the tirade, passengers say, didn't stop there.

>> he was spitting. he was throwing -- almost throwing up at one point.

>> reporter: the pilots remained in the cockpit during the entire ordeal.

>> we landed, we held him until the sheriff's department came in.

>> reporter: once on the ground, relieved passengers watched as durani was arrested and removed from the plane.

>> he's an actor, model, and expected to be arraigned as early as today charged with interfering with a flight crew .

>> frightening. thanks so much, tom.