Aeromexico flight AM-664 made an emergency landing in Guadalajara, Mexico, on August 27th.
The plane heading from San Francisco, California, to Mexico City, Mexico, was diverted after an angry “drunk” passenger started screaming and attacking the crew.
The plane landed uneventfully. The disruptive passenger was removed from the plane.
A Ryanair flight had to divert and make an emergency landing at Limoges – Bellegarde Airport, Limoges, France, on April 28th.
The Boeing 737, en-route from Liverpool, England, to Alicante, Spain, was mid-air when two drunk men onboard began fighting, prompting the captain to divert the plane.
The plane landed uneventfully. All 180 passengers onboard remained unharmed.
The two men were taken to a nearby police station.
EasyJet flight EZY8896 had to make an emergency landing in Bordeaux, France, on March 7th.
The Airbus A320, heading from Marrakesh, Morocco, to Gatwick Airport, United Kingdom, had to be diverted after a drunk male passenger tried to open an emergency door mid-air.
The plane landed safely. The man was escorted out of the plane by the French police.
The airline confirmed the incident and said, “easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time. Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously, do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard and always push for prosecution. The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet’s priority.”
A Ryanair flight had to divert and make an emergency landing at Berlin Schonefeld Airport, Germany, on February 26th.
The plane, heading from London Luton Airport in Bedfordshire, England, to Bratislava, Slovakia, was diverted after six drunk passengers became aggressive mid-flight.
The six men were a part of 12-man stag party group from Southampton, led by 26-year-old groom-to-be Joshua Marriner. Some sources reported that the passengers became violent after they were refused more alcohol.
The plane landed uneventfully. The disruptive passengers were taken into custody by German federal police in Berlin.
The flight resumed after a short delay.
Alaska Airlines flight 769 made an emergency landing at Denver International Airport, Colorado, on February 9th.
The plane, heading from Logan International Airport, Massachusetts, to San Diego International Airport, California, was diverted after a drunk male passenger became aggressive and threatened the crew and other passengers.
The plane landed safely. The police officers escorted the man out of the plane.
The plane resumed the flight after a 45-minute delay.
A Sun Express flight had to divert to and make an emergency landing at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Belgrade, Serbia, on October 17.
The plane, heading from Dublin, Ireland, to Izmir, Turkey, had to be diverted due to an “unruly passenger” aboard. The drunk Irishman stripped off and started harassing a stewardess.
The plane landed safely.
All passengers aboard remained unhurt.
The drunk passenger was taken off the flight in Belgrade, while others continued their journey to Izmir.
A Cessna Skymaster 337F aircraft crashed into a communications antenna shed at Melbourne International Airport in Florida, on May 27.
Authorities said the pilot Christopher Hall, 57, was drunk when he steered his plane into the shed.
There were two people, including the pilot and his pre-teen son, aboard the plane; none of them was seriously injured.
The pilot was charged with child abuse without great harm and reckless operation of a vessel.
The police and the FAA are investigating.
A Thomas Cook flight had to make an unscheduled landing in Bermuda, at around 6 p.m. on November 24.
The flight was on its way from Manchester, England, to Cuba when a British man, identified as Mohammed Khelya, started threatening the flight crew, passengers and even his new wife. The pilot decided to divert to Bermuda while the crew members handcuffed the unruly passenger and kept him restrained at the back of the aircraft.
The Airbus A330 safely landed at LF Wade International Airport where the security officials arrested Khelya.
An airline spokesperson said, ‘Thomas Cook Airlines can confirm that flight TCX244 from Manchester to Holguin, Cuba, diverted to Bermuda and a customer was removed from the aircraft and detained by local police…We operate a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour on board our aircraft that affects the safety and welfare of our customers and crew.”
Khelya was presented in Bermudan court on Tuesday where Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo fined him $3000.
Qantas flight QF24 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, at around 5:45 a.m. on September
21.
The plane, en-route from Bangkok, Thailand to Sydney, Australia, was diverted after a 34-year-old drunk passenger repeatedly attempted to steal whisky and broke all 4 sets of plastic handcuffs aboard.
Several police officers were ready at the scene for arresting the passenger when the plane touched the runway.
According to the Australian Federal Police, “A 34-year-old man has been charged with behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner contrary to section 256AA of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 and interfering with crew or aircraft contrary to section 24(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988.”
Confirming the incident, the airline said, “Qantas has a zero tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour on our aircraft.”
An Aeroflot flight had to make an emergency landing in Yerevan, Armenia, at 5:00 am on August 26 due to a drunk Azerbaijani passenger.
The flight was on its way from Dubai to Moscow when a drunk Azerbaijani passenger started speaking loudly, insulting others and bothering the children. According to one of the passengers, “There were lots of children and foreigners. A man at nearly 30-35 years of age started to shout and molested children. The stewardesses failed to cope with him. Then 6 male passengers caught the man and bound him to the seat.”
The plane landed safely. The pilots tried to hand over the man to the Armenian police, but they refused to accept him. The man was finally tamed with sedatives to continue the fight with a 3 hours delay.
The man was eventually detained by the Moscow police.
In reply to an RTI application filed by the Time of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India, has revealed that between 2009 and February 2014, 165 pilots throughout the country were grounded after their pre-flight medical tests showed high levels of alcohol in their blood.
Among these, 50 pilots were from Delhi, 47 from Mumbai, 18 from Kolkata, and 17 from Chennai.
The statistics also showed that the number of pilots with higher-than-allowed level of alcohol in their blood has increased every year. In 2009, only 35 such cases were reported while in 2013, 41 pilots were found to have high blood alcohol levels.
The DGCA has not released the names of the airlines where these pilots work. According to official sources “The information pertains to third party, hence details cannot be provided according to the RTI Act.”