A commercial plane carrying four members of Congress bound for Washington D.C. was suddenly diverted and grounded after video captured an unruly passenger disrupting the safety of the flight.
Reps. Greg Stanton, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar — all from Arizona — were headed back to the nation’s capitol to vote on ending the government shutdown was suddenly diverted due to a “disruptive passenger” who later declared to fellow flyers, “We live in a fascist state.”
Stanton, a Democrat, posted on X that the American Airlines flight carrying him and his three Republican colleagues (Crane, Biggs and Gosar), was forced to make an “emergency stop in Kansas City” after an unruly passenger caused a disturbance following takeoff from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Flying to DC rn to vote no on CR that fails to lower health care costs. @RepEliCrane, @RepAndyBiggsAZ & @RepGosar all on this flight. We’re making emergency stop in Kansas City to remove disruptive passenger. None of my colleagues is the disruptor. Freedom Caucus losing its mojo.
— Greg Stanton (@gregstantonaz) November 12, 2025
The flight had been in the air for about 2 hours and 41 minutes when it was diverted to Kansas City International Airport, landing safely around 6:15 p.m., according to FlightAware.
A fellow passenger captured video of the aforementioned unruly passenger being escorted off of the plane by Kansas City police officers.
In the video, the unidentified passenger is heard saying apologizing to fellow flyers and saying:
“We live in a fascist state.”
Take a look —
If you’d like to hear her parting words… pic.twitter.com/ZtXAWKEEYn
— Adam Burtner (@Adam_Burtner) November 12, 2025
Roughly an hour after the diversion, the plane took off from Kansas City and touched down at Reagan National Airport at 9:01 p.m.
Stanton later thanked the Kansas City Police Department “for handling the situation professionally and without incident.”
At the time of publication, it’s unknown what disturbance the passenger caused that forced the flight to make an emergency landing.
American Airlines confirmed in a statement it was due to the actions of “a disruptive customer.”
“On Nov. 11, American Airlines flight 1218, with service from Phoenix (PHX) to Washington, DC (DCA), diverted to Kansas City (MCI) due to a disruptive customer,” the airline told local Kansas City affiliate KSHB 41.
“Law enforcement met the flight and removed the customer, and the flight later re-departed for DCA, where it landed normally. We thank our customers for their patience and our crew members for their professionalism.”