Dulles , Virginia ( CNN ) Two quick-thinking passengers in the third row of a United flight to Denver tackled and subdued a man who was heading toward the cockpit , other travelers on the plane told CNN on Tuesday . The incident started shortly after United Flight 1074 took off around 10:15 p.m. Monday from Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington . The Boeing 737 jet was supposed to take its 33 passengers and six crew members to Denver , but turned back because the unnamed passenger `` failed to comply with crew instructions , '' United Airlines spokesman Luke Punzenberger said . Joshua Lindstrom told `` Anderson Cooper 360˚ '' Tuesday night that a man was acting strangely as he moved up the aisle . `` The flight attendant gave some sort of command to stand back , and he turned and started heading toward the cockpit . And the guy in 3E was a lightning bolt and just jumped out of his seat and took the guy down to the ground . '' The hero 's seatmate piled on and grabbed the out-of-control passenger 's legs , Lindstrom said . Passenger Donna Tellam told CNN 's `` Erin Burnett OutFront '' the men reacted so quickly she thought they were air marshals . She said the unruly man had come down the aisle , screaming about the plane going too slow and flailing his arms . A flight attendant used plastic ties to bind the man 's wrists as the plane headed back , she said . Earlier , a government official with direct knowledge of the incident told CNN that the detained passenger had run toward the cockpit screaming `` jihad , jihad . '' Lindstrom told Cooper he did n't hear those words but after the flight was back on the ground the man who tackled the unruly passenger mentioned it . `` He said , 'Did you hear it ? Like he said 'jihad ' a couple times ( while he was being restrained ) , '' Lindstrom said . `` ... In the end it was more surreal than it was scary . It was wild . '' Lindstrom said two other people helped keep the man on the floor for the 20 minutes or so that it took the flight crew to return to Dulles . During that time , the subdued man 's mood would change . The man was rattling on about someone trying to bring the plane down , then become despondent and cry , `` I 'm sorry , I 'm sorry . '' A cell phone video shows the man , bruised on his face , being held down . At one point , he pleads , `` Please stop , please stop , they said call it off . '' At another , the man seems to cry as he says , `` I 'm so sorry . '' `` Do n't move , '' one passenger says , apparently trying to calm the man . `` You 're OK. We 're going to get you off this plane , buddy . '' The plane returned to Dulles around 10:40 p.m. , said Kimberly Gibbs , a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority , which runs the northern Virginia airport . Airport police took the unruly passenger off the plane , and airport firefighter-EMTs transported him to a nearby hospital , according to Gibbs . As of late Tuesday evening , the passenger had not been arrested or charged with a crime , officials said . There is nothing , so far , in the tackled man 's background to suggest he has a connection to terrorists , the government source said . No weapons were found after he was subdued . By then , the other passengers -- none of whom was injured -- had been rebooked on new Denver-bound flights . Some opted to take the first flight to Colorado on Tuesday , while others chose to leave later , according to Punzenberger , the United spokesman . Opinion : Pilot : How safe are you on a plane ? CNN 's Rene Marsh reported from Dulles Airport , and CNN 's Steve Almasy and Greg Botelho wrote this story from Atlanta . CNN 's Tina Burnside , Javi Morgado , Holly Yan and Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report .
Witness on plane says unruly passenger talked about someone trying to bring plane down . Another passenger tells CNN man said plane was going too slow . Airport spokeswoman : Passenger not arrested or charged with a crime so far .