SHARPES, Fla. — The student pilot who police say jumped a fence and tried to steal an American Airlines passenger jet at Orlando Melbourne International Airport was denied bond Friday.
- Nishal Sankat accused of boarding empty commercial jet
- Sankat, a student at Florida Tech, earned pilot's license last year
- Brevard County judge denied bond on 2 of 3 counts
- RELATED: Officials ID student pilot accused of breaching Florida airport security
Nishal Sankat is facing charges of burglary, trespassing and grand theft after police say he breached security at the airport early Thursday and tried to steal the Airbus A321 worth $114 million.
Airport workers spotted him, eventually tackling him in the aircraft's cockpit. The security breach shut down the airport for hours.
Now, Sankat's immigration status could be in jeopardy.
He's a native of Trinidad and Tobago but is in the U.S. legally with a Canadian passport. Sankat trained as a flight student at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida and earned a pilot's license this year, though the type of license he has isn't enough to know how to fly the commercial airliner he's accused of trying to steal.
The FBI is investigating.
"There's no direct connection to terrorism at this time. This investigation is one that is active. It's ongoing and we will continue to vet those things," said Chief David Gillespie of the Melbourne Police Department.
Florida Tech student Hao Tian lives just a few doors down from Sankat's Melbourne apartment.
"I think he's crazy," Tian said. "No student would do that. I don't know why he would do that."
A judge at the Brevard County Jail denied bond on two of the three counts he's charged with, and with his current immigration status pending, Sankat won't be able to leave jail.
Sankat is expected back in court Oct. 18. He asked for a public defender but was denied because he said he gets about $5,000 a month for expenses.
"He intended to harm himself, and in that process, he had no regard of potentially others," Special Agent David Joseph Hacker said.