Airline says door helped thwart cockpit break-in

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- United Airlines officials credit a door that was reinforced after the September 11 terrorist attacks with impeding a man who attempted Thursday to kick his way into United Flight 855's cockpit.

A bar was installed on the cockpit door of the Boeing 777 aircraft after September 11, said United Airlines spokeswoman Chris Mardella. The cockpit door was locked at the time of Thursday's incident on a flight from Florida to Argentina, Mardella said.

The man was able to kick in a portion of the door and partially enter the cockpit before the co-pilot hit him on the head with an ax, a passenger who witnessed the assault told CNN.

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"Our crew reacted forcefully and immediately to bar the passenger's entry into the reinforced cockpit," Mardella said. "Obviously, the man was injured in the struggle."

The bar is a temporary fix until a permanent system to secure the cockpit bulkhead can be installed, she said.

Mardella said United Airlines has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to equip its pilots with stun guns.

The man, identified as Pablo Moreira, 28, a banker from Uruguay, was in custody of Argentine police and FBI agents, said Judy Orihuela, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Miami, Florida. Moreira will be returned later Thursday to Miami, where he will be charged with interfering with a flight crew, Orihuela said.

Flight 855, which took off from Miami just after midnight and was carrying 157 passengers and 15 crew members, landed safely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, about three hours after the incident.