An airline passenger who tried to craft a shank from plastic cutlery and open the cockpit door during an American Airline flight and was thwarted by a flight attendant who hit him over the head with a coffee pot has been sentenced to 19 months in prison.

US prosecutors sought a term of between 41 months and 51 months, although they said the perpetrator was affected by his use of methamphetamine and wasn’t trying to cause a crash.

The incident happened on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, in February 2022. Witnesses told an FBI agent Juan Remberto Rivas, 52, tried to use plastic cutlery and his shirt sleeve to make a shank, pushed a service cart into a flight attendant, and tried to open both the cockpit door and one of the plane’s exit doors.

After the flight attendant intervened and passengers subdued the man, according to court documents. Pilots landed in Kansas City, where Rivas was arrested.

Rivas pleaded guilty in January to a single count of interfering with a flight crew. Prosecutors said he had two previous convictions, including assaulting a spouse or ex-spouse, and faces a charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer in Missouri.