A passenger who became drunk and unruly on a flight to Kennedy Airport on Thursday posed a problem to the crew, especially once he turned violent and verbally abusive. He left them and fellow passengers with no alternative but to “go to the tape.”
Not the videotape, of the expression popularized by sportscaster Warner Wolf, but plain old packing tape. The New York Post notes:
The passenger, who was on an Icelandair flight, ‘drank all of his duty-free liquor on the flight,’ tried to ‘choke the woman next to him’ and was ‘screaming the plane was going to crash,’ according to passenger Andy Ellwood, who snapped the man’s photo and posted it to his blog.
The meltdown — in which the man also spat on several passengers — began when there were about two hours left on the flight, according to Icelandic news outlet Mbl.is.
The man was subdued a second time once the plane landed, this by police who were waiting for him. His name was not released.
Meantime, the Post notes further, passengers boarding a New York-bound flight out of Minneapolis-St. Paul were momentarily also placed in jeopardy. This time, however, the source of the threat was the flight’s pilot, and he was restrained before the flight ever left the ground.
The pilot was conducting preflight checks about 6:30 a.m. when airport police officers acting on a tip boarded the aircraft, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. Officers made him take a Breathalyzer test and arrested him on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol.
The tip had come from a passenger who smelled booze on the pilot’s breath and notified police.
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