Man arrested in Tampa airport after threatening to 'take this plane down' on American Airlines flight

A man who hurled racist remarks at staff and fellow passengers during a drunken racist tirade on an American Airlines flight in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday has been arrested.

Shail Patel, 29, was subsequently charged with two counts of battery and one count of disorderly intoxication, all misdemeanors.

According to the New York Post, the incident took place while AA Flight 2506 was still at the gate. Patel was escorted from the plane and taken into custody around 5:30pm, and the other Philadelphia-bound passengers departed only half an hour behind schedule.

Footage shows Patel calling a flight attendant a "k*ke" after being told that he had to exit the plane, comments which shocked other passengers. 

He then accused the rest of the plane of "teaming up" against him, pointing out that "most of the people are white here."

"I'm trying to get to my home country and you all people made it harder for me to get to my home country," he added.

Patel then got up out of his seat at the request of another passenger, who later said he was a police officer, at which point a scuffle broke out.

"You touched me first," Patel told the man, turning back around to confront him. He eventually got Patel in a headlock, shouting, "Put your hands down and don't touch anybody."

With the help of a female passenger who also identified herself as a police officer, Patel was led down the aisle and out of the plane.

As the Post reports, court documents revealed that upon boarding, Patel was described as having bloodshot eyes and stinking of alcohol and "began acting erratically, yelling and cursing at the passengers." He allegedly ranted about "blue-eyed white devils" and threatened to "take this plane down with all you motherf*ckers on it."

He remains in the Hillsborough County jail on $2,150 bond.