On August 11, 2000, Jonathan Burton, a Las Vegas resident, stormed the cockpit door of the Boeing 737 while in flight, in an apparent case of air rage.

[5] The medical examiner's autopsy report stated that when police arrived, "Mr. Burton was lying face down with at least one individual standing on his neck.

"[8] Burton had low levels of marijuana and cocaine in his body but this was not capable of explaining his outburst, which was out of character, and he had no history of violence or mental illness.

A year later, playwright Lucas Rockwood turned the incident into a play, Fifty Minutes, which was performed a few weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In that episode, a young man of Arabian appearance is treated with suspicion by other passengers, panics, and attempts to reach the cockpit.