Plane Forced to Make Emergency Landing After 27-Year-Old Air Force Veteran Says His Laptop Is 'a Bomb' While Mid-Air

An Air Force veteran sparked a mid-air scare that caused an emergency plane landing. His unsettling "verbal bomb threat" now faces federal investigation.

In Florida, a plane was forced to turn around shortly after takeoff and return to the airport after a male passenger claimed that his laptop was a bomb.

Taj Taylor is a 27-year-old Air Force veteran. On Friday, July 6, 2025, Taylor boarded an Allegiant flight out of Florida's St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, headed for Roanoke, Virginia.

Taylor sat in the last row of the plane. Moments after takeoff, he reportedly turned to the passenger next to him and said, "My laptop is a bomb."

According to an FBI affidavit, Taylor's seatmates asked him to clarify his words, and the veteran allegedly responded by raising his laptop case and restating that it was a bomb.

The passenger next to him immediately informed flight attendants. Authorities were alerted to the "verbal bomb threat" at approximately 2:03 p.m. By 2:08 p.m., the plane had returned to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.

In a public statement, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office confirmed that detectives spoke to several other witnesses on the plane who heard Taylor's claim about the laptop bomb.

K9 units with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office proceeded to search Taylor's luggage. No explosive devices were found. Taylor was arrested, and the FBI took over the investigation.

Speaking to the authorities after being detained, Taylor said he was released from a mental health facility recently, specifying that he "took his medication last night and was currently suffering from a lack of clarity," according to the affidavit cited by USA Today.

In a statement, Allegiant confirmed that the flight was rerouted back to St. Pete-Clearwater due to "disruptive behavior," adding that passengers were offered $100 vouchers for the inconvenience. The flight made it to Roanoke with a five-hour delay.

The FBI is pursuing charges against Taylor for making a false bomb threat. If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $25,000. His first appearance in federal court was slated for July 7, 2025.

Taylor was born on March 31, 1998, per his arrest records. Across his social media profiles, he identifies as a graduate of Valdosta State University, a Seminary student at Liberty University, and an aspiring United States Army chaplain.

This was not Taylor's first run-in with the law. In a since-deleted Facebook post from March 2025, he thanked God after getting a misdemeanor dropped and expunged from his record. He clarified that in 2018, he was arrested and booked for a DUI and possession of marijuana.

Taylor wrote that he had "a grinder in my backpack with less than a gram of marijuana in it," but "the cop thought I was smoking that night and took me into jail." After a year of probation, he applied for expungement and completed the process.

In an Instagram post from March 2023, he shared a photo of himself in a navy blue US Air Force dress uniform. In the caption, he shared the Airman's Creed and described himself as a "marksman."

In a separate post from November 2022, Taylor wrote that he "Just committed my Oath to Enlistment into the United States Air Force" while at the Raymond James Stadium, located in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The post described his experience training before his oath ceremony. "For the last four months now I've been training with a great group of young men with one common goal in mind, United States Air Force Special Forces," wrote Taylor.

He claimed to have been named captain and leader of a group of about 50 young men, which he considered "the greatest honor."

Taylor wrote:

"This is a new beginning that I plan on enduring along with creating a beautiful future for myself and my family! God Bless you, along with the United States of America."

According to Taylor's LinkedIn profile, he is an aspiring attorney and open to work. The same profile describes him as employed as a receptionist for a local law office.