Man zig-zags across tarmac to reach Air NZ plane

  • 10/12/2016

It's like something from a Hollywood comedy film, one which begins when someone says: "I have a great idea. Here, smoke this. What could go wrong?!"

A man, apparently under the influence, makes a mad dash across the tarmac to a waiting Air NZ flight in San Francisco - while chased in a fumbling and futile pursuit by police and aviation security.

Witnesses say the caper began when the man was spotted sitting on a bench with his beanie pulled over his eyes. There was something odd about him, they say. He was making strange jerking motions with his head.

It's not entirely certain whether he had a plan - or even a ticket. And when security came to talk, he took off like an Olympic sprinter.

He cleared the terminal dividers in a leap, ran through the traffic - taking a 10-metre drop in his stride.

"Who survives that kind of thing?" said traveller Dan Callies. "Someone who's crazy. Someone who has no fear. Adrenaline kicks and gets you going."

Next, the man climbed the security fence, hurdling over the razor wire with bare hands. But he felt no pain. He was determined. He was a man on a mission, and the Air NZ plane was in sight.

Cellphone footage showed the result. He took off across the tarmac, while four security vehicles circled him wildly, trying to fence him in. But he ran like a gazelle.

An officer opened the passenger door of a police car and tried to swipe him. He dodged around a SUV, zigzagging back and forward.

He swerved and sidestepped like Nehe Milner-Skudder, while despairing officers attempted to catch him on foot.

Finally, the drugs wore off, and his exhausted body gave out. He was brought down to the ground only metres from his precious jet.

Newshub.