Air 2k Air Rage Incident

[newswatcher]

From the BBC(8/5):

"A man from Liverpool has appeared in a Florida court accused of verbally abusing the crew of a transatlantic flight. Brime Benjamin Reatus, 32, was arrested on Saturday aboard an Air 2000 flight from Manchester after it landed at Orlando-Sanford International Airport.

After appearing in court, he was bailed to a secure unit and will appear again in two months time. He is charged with interference with a flight crew, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a £165,000 fine.

Mr Reatus is accused of shouting and screaming at flight attendants after refusing to sit down and fasten his seat belt as the plane came into land. The captain asked for assistance via radio and the plane was met in Orlando by armed police and FBI agents who arrested Mr Reatus on the plane.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said consular staff were assisting Mr Reatus."

[White Knight]

And just WHY is he being assisted by consular staff ?? Surely HM government should be helping 2K prosecute this guy for breaking HM laws...

[xyz_pilot]

All the consular staff are doing is helping the person get legal representation and a fair trial. It’s the courts job to find out if someone is gilty not the consular staff .

[LGWAlan]

OK so consular staff are assisting to ensure legal representation - - but I for one hope Air 2 sure the hell out of him!

[Bealzebub]

He should thank his lucky stars he wasn't flying with some of the armed cousins in the US. They would have probably used him for target practise !

[T_richard]

Beazelbub

Nope, no target practice, can't get a gun onboard, as a matter of fact I've been caring a beign swiss army knife everywhere for 4 decades, can't even take it on the plane anymore. I will say that had been a US carrier, your fellow countryman might have found him self facing off against the rest of the male (and maybe female) passengers. We found a role model on September 11. amd learned a valuable lesson.

Having said that, I am always puzzeled by people who throw tantrums, etc. on a plane. I don't understand what sets them off. Why did this guy allegedly flip out as the plane was landing? Every time I read about one of these incidents, I wonder how drunk or stressed out or??? must a person get to behave like this. Maybe I've led a sheltered life

[Jarvy]

I suspect alcohol was the prime factor in this and I have found
that charters are the worst because of the holiday spirit.
Instead of stopping penknifes, nail clippers and the like they
should ban sales of alcohol both in airports and in the air.
It will never happen due to profit on sale.

[Sooty]

Jarvy true comment

what'd be more damaging, nail clippers or a heavy bottle of scotch. Broken or unbroken!! That's not even including the effect of the contents:\

[Ignition Override]

Yesterday, one of our female passengers had missed an earlier flight. The 'Customer Service' Supervisor told me that her brother had just died in Atlanta, and she was quite drunk and upset, which many of us can sympathize with. When the police came to talk, she became irate and was briefly arrested. By the time I arrived for the flight, she had been watched and had not consumed alcohol for about five hours, sitting next to a companion. All I did was politely avoid looking at her while listening to the story, and then held out my hand, shook hers and gave her my condolences.

Had she not been arrested yesterday afternoon and kept at the gate, away from a 'drink', combined with an enroute cabin altitude of 6,000' or so, we might easily have either returned to the gate, or quickly diverted to Cleveland, Columbus (OH) or Knoxville etc. The timing of her outburst, at least for the airborne passengers and flightcrew was very fortunate-what a major operating (and note-taking, for legal protection) delay that would have caused.

Her only complaint when seated onboard was that she had nothing to 'drink', as planned. Do most airports have a trained counselor to help those who just lost a family member or friend?:sad:

[Rollingthunder]

beign

Naw, that's a doughnut in New Orleans. Delish.


There are thousands of nutters in this world - mostly ground based. They go off at random intervals. They will always be with us. A few go off in-flight and make the news.