DENVER — A United Airlines pilot was caught on surveillance video hacking away at a parking gate with an axe at Denver International Airport.
The video, obtained by ABC News Friday, shows the United Airlines pilot walking toward the landside employee parking lot gate with an axe in his hand before briefly stopping as if to check out which parking gate he’s going to target.
About a minute into the video, the pilot is then seen walking toward the gate farthest from him before he starts hacking away at the gate. A person inside a pickup truck can be seen in the video just sitting still as the man hacks away.
Twenty seconds into the video, the pilot then stops his attack as he realizes that the axe wasn’t properly working because it was still being covered by its sheath.
The United pilot resumes his hacking for about another 15 seconds before the gate dislodges and moves out of the way to allow the driver on the pickup to pass through the now-damaged gate.
Surveillance video shows the pilot grabbing the sheath from the floor and follows as he makes his way to the parking lot. A security guard follows him and a brief struggle ensues between the pilot and the guard as the guard tries to take the axe away.
The pilot is then seen walking away from the parking lot into an empty field before the video ends.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for United Airlines said the pilot had been “removed from the schedule and is on leave while United conducts an international investigation.”
