Five days later, and he still has not been identified. It sounds like they took him to a hospital instead of jail, which indicates 'special handling' to me.
Other anomalies:
--The flight was only about 25% full, which seems odd in this age of jam packed planes.
The passengers that tackled him may have been cops of some sort:
Police Investigating Man Who Rushed United Airlines Cockpit Yelling Jihad - Breitbart
"...United 1074 passengers... spoke of
remarkably quick action by several of their fellow passengers during the incident.
"Passenger Joshua Lindstrom: “the guy in 3E was
a lightning bolt' and just jumped out of his seat and took the guy down to the ground.”
"Others assisted in the process of securing the cockpit assailant, acting so quickly and effectively that passenger Donna Tellam said she thought
they were all air marshals."
Failed hijack attempt of United flight out of Dulles -United Airlines Flight Returns to Washington - YouTube
Someone says: "You're taking to
Sgt Molneux(sp?). What's your rank? ... Don't fight David. .... Here they come(indicating the boarding officers)"
--The incident started almost immediately after takeoff. If the guy had managed to take control of the plane, he could have had time to fly into a high value target in DC before the Air Force could have responded.
--Was this a drill of some sort?
Police Investigating Man Who Rushed United Airlines Cockpit Yelling Jihad - Breitbart
"One of the things he said after being subdued was, “Please stop. Please stop.
They said call it off”