SANTA CLARA (KRON) — The chaos on an Oakland-bound Southwest flight might have been worse had it not been for the quick action by another passenger, who stepped in and helped break up the brawl.

That passenger is from Santa Clara, and he spoke with KRON4’s Rob Fladeboe.

That passenger is a retired fire captain who credits his long experience and training for wanting to, in his words, “control the situation.”

Dan Green said he was only too aware of the recent rage over canceled flights, seat disputes, and misunderstandings on airplanes.

So, he says he felt he had to take action.

Green is talking about the brawl that erupted Sunday on Southwest Airlines Flight 2530 after it landed in Burbank, en route to Oakland.

“Assess the situation, make a decision, take action,” Green said.

At first, says Green, as a flight attendant tried to get between two men who were arguing, instead of helping, other passengers were recording the fight on their cellphones. 

“I tell them, ‘Sit down and cut off your phones and help,’ as I’m making my way there,” Green said.

In the video, Green is seen in the gray shirt and tan shorts.

We don’t see it in the clip, but he says the fight started up again after the clip was shot, with the flight attendant pinned beneath the combatants, until the 6 foot 2 inch Green got tough.

“I got between them and then pulled the man that you see in the video…pulled him apart, and drove him to the front of the plane,” Green said.

Eventually, some other passengers also helped.

But Green says he was motivated not just by his long experience dealing with emergencies, but also by what happened on another flight on a day we all remember as 911.

“I saw some tweets where people were saying, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t get involved with that. They’re just two thugs.’ I don’t know there were two thugs,” Green said. “Why not get involved? Not to the same degree as Flight 93, but can you imagine if they would have said, ‘Why get involved?”

It turns out the man you see in the video throwing most of the punches was not the aggressor.

The other man was booked for misdemeanor battery.

The plane went on to Oakland without incident. Southwest praised the crew and thanked Captain Green.

“A lot of people call and tell me I’m a hero. I’m not. I just did what we all should be doing,” Green said.WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:

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