Tried To Open Door, Claimed To Have Bomb; Plane Diverts To DEN

Three Secret Service agents on their way west to join President Bush's entourage in California got some field experience of their own Friday, when a man onboard United Airlines Flight 735 attempted to open a cabin door at altitude, and later claimed to have a bomb.

Passengers on the Airbus A320 heading from Chicago to Sacramento rushed to aid a flight attendant who leapt up to stop the man... and they, in turn, were quickly aided by the agents -- who witnesses say brought Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega quickly under control.

"I heard a bunch of commotion, and I heard somebody yell 'What are you doing' and 'Get down,' then I saw the guy put into a chokehold, put on his back and pinned down so he couldn't move," said passenger Joe Pena, a senior airman at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, CA to the Sacramento Bee.

As the agents detained Pelayo-Ortega -- securing him to his seat with duct tape -- two F-16s from Buckley Air Force Base were dispatched to intercept the plane, which carried 138 passengers and six crewmembers onboard. The jet was diverted to Denver International after Pelayo-Ortega reportedly claimed he had a bomb.

FBI spokeswoman Monique Kelso told the Associated Press authorities searched the aircraft on the ground at Denver for explosives, and also re-screened luggage and the passengers.

Once it was clear there was no bomb onboard the flight, the A320 departed for Sacramento destination at about 7:30 pm -- less Pelayo-Ortega, of course, who is now being held in a Denver jail pending federal charges.

Grateful passengers later said they were happy the Secret Service agents happened to be onboard their plane.

"That saved us," Ian Grossman of Chicago told the Bee. "You don't know what will happen if a guy like that is loose in the cabin."

FMI: www.secretservice.gov