Dramatic footage has revealed the potentially life-saving moment a pilot and a passenger heroically restrained a teenager who allegedly attempted to board a plane armed with a shotgun and several knives. 

The 17-year-old boy was wrestled to the ground and allegedly disarmed in front of 160 passengers on the Sydney-bound Jetstar flight prior just minutes before takeoff from Avalon Airport outside Melbourne at 2.20pm on Thursday. 

Barry Clark, a farmer and shearer from Moama in southern NSW, is seen putting the teenager in a headlock as the pilot quickly emptied the contents of his tool belt. 

It’s understood the teen posed as a maintenance worker and had cut a hole in the high-chain perimeter fence at Avalon Airport in get onto the runway. 

Flight attendants became suspicious when the man was unable to show identification, and because no maintenance work was scheduled, the Herald Sun reports. 

Mr Clark sprang into action after he spotted the teen’s alleged weapons and was able to put him in a headlock and wrestle him to the ground. 

‘Before we knew it, a shotgun [allegedly] appeared,’ he told the Herald Sun. 

‘He had other apparatus on him. I don’t know what his full intention was. It looked like he was trying to get into the cockpit, actually.’

Barry Clark, a farmer and shearer from Moama, is seen putting the teenager in a headlock as the pilot quickly emptied the contents of his tool belt (pictured)

The pilot and two passengers restrained and disarmed the teenager on the plane (pictured)

Mr Clark said the teenager became ‘agitated’ when he was asked by flight attendants to show his credentials as he entered the plane. 

Police arrived at the airport and took the teenager into custody about 2.50pm.

He is not previously known to police and officers say it is still too early to determine if the alleged incident was an act of terrorism.

Passenger Daniel Defino captured the incident on his phone.

‘The pilot saw the shotgun and that and leapt onto him and there was a guy next to us called Barry [Clark] who put him in a headlock and that’s when I started recording,’ Mr Defino told 7News.

‘He was dead silent [and] there was no emotion in his eyes at all.

‘He looked almost fake, it was so scary.’ 

In the footage, the pilot can be heard urging all passengers to immediately exit the plane via the rear door.

Daniel Defino (pictured) captured the terrifying moment the teenager boarded the plane

The teenager is seen being restrained on the floor of the cabin of the Jetstar plane

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Mr Clark is then heard telling the pilot that he will hold the intruder down while the others worked to disarm him. 

‘I don’t want to f****** let him go. I’m not strangling you, mate, but you’re not f****** moving alright?’ he said. 

During the struggle the pilot removed what appeared to be the barrel of a shotgun.

The pilot also kicked away the gun’s stock which was already on the floor. 

A flight attendant can be heard calling the police. 

‘We need you out here urgently,’ they said.

Victoria Police Superintendent Michael Reid said it was ‘very concerning’ that the teen was able to gain entry to the runway so easily.

‘I can’t communicate more clearly how concerning that is,’ Superintendent Reid said.

Police arrived at the scene around 2.50pm and took the teen into custody (pictured)

‘It would have been a very frightening experience for those passengers involved, but once again I do really commend the bravery of those civilian passengers that helped assist to overpower him.

‘Victoria Police truly commend the bravery of those passengers, who were able to overpower that male.’  

All flights to and from Avalon Airport were cancelled while police searched the airport where officers allegedly discovered ammunition. 

Jetstar confirmed it had been briefed about a ‘security incident’ at the airport and that it was working with police to understand what happened. 

‘The safety of our passengers and crew is our number one priority and we can confirm there are no reported injuries,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.