Halfway through his Northwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, passenger Andy Friendly noticed something was not right.

Another passenger, obviously disturbed and agitated, was furiously pacing the aisles and disobeying the orders of the flight crew, Friendly said.

"We knew something was going on," he said about Friday night's flight. "We had no idea it was serious."

He also didn't know that hours later he would be one of five men who would wrestle and restrain the unruly passenger, who allegedly threatened the life of a sleeping baby.

Santiago Lol Tizol, a 37-year-old Mexican national, is in federal custody and awaiting a court appearance today. Tizol will be charged with interfering with a flight crew, a felony under federal law, and will make his first appearance before a federal magistrate today in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, the FBI said.

Friendly and his wife, Pat, of Los Angeles recalled the ordeal aboard Flight 91 during an interview at their hotel in Waikiki yesterday.

Just moments after Flight 91 was in the air, a flight attendant came on the loud speaker and began making routine announcements. Pat Friendly said she sensed something was wrong.

"Her voice was shaky," said Pat Friendly, an actress.

A little while later, other people onboard began talking about an unruly passenger.

For two hours, Tizol sat across from a Canadian couple, holding a phone cord and staring at their sleeping baby, according to the baby's father, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jean-Francois. He said on Friday that passengers and flight crew thought Tizol might use the phone cord as a weapon.

Andy Friendly, unaware of the full extent of the matter, wanted to subdue the man before the situation got worse.

"We asked what his issues were, but they (the flight crew) couldn't tell us. They just said he is very agitated," said Friendly, a 54-year-old TV producer from Los Angeles, who was sitting toward the front of the cabin.

By the time the plane was half-way to Hawai'i, Friendly and a doctor sitting across the aisle from him began to plan to restrain the man if he made his way toward the front of the plane again.

Friendly asked flight attendants if he and the doctor could help.

"They (the flight crew) said they are following procedure and that they were going to handle it," Friendly said.

For about an hour, things remained calm. Flight attendants found another Spanish-speaking passenger who apparently helped to relax the man, Andy Friendly said.

About 10 minutes before Flight 91 was preparing to touch down, Andy Friendly thought "everything was going to be OK."

He was reading a magazine when he saw the man dash past him.

"He went by like a rocket," said Pat Friendly, who added that worst-case scenarios were running through her head.

A flight attendant grabbed the man's collar to prevent him from running toward the cockpit. Friendly and the doctor jumped out of their seats and grabbed the passenger's arms. With the help of a third man, the group wrestled the passenger to the ground. Two other passengers joined in.

Other passengers onboard the flight were screaming and panicking, Andy Friendly said.

"He was kicking, biting, jumping up and down. He had super-human strength at that point," Friendly said.

After about five minutes of fighting, the group of men were able to restrain the passenger with plastic handcuffs. He was strapped into a seat near the exit and was arrested upon arriving in Honolulu.

Andy Friendly said travelers should be prepared for situations like these.

"After 9/11, I think we all need to have heighten awareness for these kind of things," Friendly said.

Pat Friendly said the ordeal will not prevent her and her husband from flying.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.