I Remember Nothing....

A Canadian real estate agent who caused an American Airlines flight to be diverted because of his drunken and belligerent behaviour has struck a plea bargain with the courts after changing his plea to one of ‘guilty of interfering with the flight attendants’ (I didn’t know there was such a charge – Ed).
Russell Petrie, 30 has also been asked to reimburse American Airlines $7,757 for the cost of landing the Seattle-Miami flight in Denver. That on top of a possible jail sentence and fine.

The original charge of sexual assault was dropped , but it’s also alleged that he grabbed the buttocks of a female passenger on the flight. Petrie has been in custody since January 4, after boarding Flight 16 and loudly proclaiming, "Let's party and have some drinks." After ordering five vodka drinks and two glasses of wine the flight attendants stopped serving him.. Petrie allegedly made sexually suggestive remarks to female passengers, used profane language and loudly pounded on the airplane lavatory walls, forcing the pilot to divert to Denver.

Petrie used the ‘I remember nothing’ defense. He, "volunteered that he did not recall what happened on the flight ... [and] stated he drank too much and has a drinking problem." No kidding…

An Eye Opener

Have you ever got on an early morning flight and been amazed just how many people ask for a drink, other than tea and coffee that is? The reasons why they do so are of course many and varied. There are those who just need a drink to get themselves through the whole experience – fear is a dreadful thing. I remember one early morning flight from Glasgow to London where a lady passenger was so fearful that she had taken a couple of Valium, and then once on board she set about the drink. Twenty minutes from landing she had fallen sound asleep and when the aircraft landed in London she was still out for the count and had to be carried off the plane. There are others for whom that early morning drink is the hair of the dog, and then there are those who have a drink problem. Last of all there are those who drink for the simplest of reasons; it’s free.

So nothing unusual on the 6.30am flight from Detroit to Fort Wayne, Indiana, when two men got on and one started drinking. It’s only a twenty-five minute flight but by the time they arrived he’d already become a little excitable. Some passengers disembarked, and more got on for the next leg to Indianapolis. Soon enough they were under way again and the man continued to drink. His behaviour went from rowdy to downright obnoxious, to such an extent that the flight attendant informed the captain.

Once they arrived at Indianapolis the captain decided his behaviour was unacceptable and ordered him off the flight. The drunken passenger argued that he needed to carry on to Atlanta, but the captain was having none of it. His, sober, companion appealed too, but the captain was unmoved and the inebriated man was taken off the flight.

Once they were in the air again and about 25 minutes into the hour and a half flight to Atlanta, the cockpit radio crackled into life. The conversation went like this:

“Captain, did you kick a passenger off your flight in Indianapolis?”
“Yes, he was drunk and disorderly.”
“Was he with someone?”
“Yes.”
“Are they still on the plane?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good. The man you ejected was sergeant XXX from the Detroit Police Dept and the man with him is the prisoner he’s escorting.”

The captain immediately asked the flight attendants to upgrade the prisoner to first class. Once they landed in Atlanta, he went back to see the man and thanked him for flying with the airline. The pilot then told him that some people had come to meet him off the flight. “You know?” asked the man. “Yes, we know.” Replied the captain.

The white-collar criminal was then returned to custody and continued with his extradition. It is not known how the sergeant’s return to the office went, or whether he has yet lived the episode down.

Get Naked!

Drunkenness on board Russian airplanes is something we've had cause to write about before but it seems it's now spilling over to the terminal building. A few days ago in the Russian city of Byisk a drunken man was told to take his belt off in order to pass through the metal detector at the security check. Instead, the man shouted, "Maybe I should take everything off?" He did and got naked in front of his fellow passengers. To date no news has reached us as to what happened next.

Russian Flyers Face Written Warning

Following the most recent outbreak of drunkeness on board a Russian aircraft the country's Tourism Industry Union have come up with a solution. They want to introduce hefty fines for the passengers who get on board in a drunken state — even if they do not behave aggressively toward others — and distribute a leaflet explaining the system of fines with every airplane ticket sold in Russia. Their official spokeslady has said. “Faced with a detailed written warning, travelers are bound to show more caution.”

Phew, that's all sorted then....

Russian Roulette

According to Reuters A Russian plane flying from St Petersburg in Russia to Doloman in Turkey had to turn back mid-flight after a drunken brawl over a young woman spun out of control (that was the brawl not the plane - Ed). Apparently three young Russians boarded the plane drunk Thursday and "continued their party on board. One of them took a fancy to a girl but she did not want to socialize with the new admirer," police said. One of the men slapped the woman's face several times after she rejected his advances. Another passenger immediately rose to defend her. "A fight began, the situation started to get out of hand and the crew made the only right decision -- to turn back. The three drunken men were detained on landing at St Petersburg airport. They faced fines of "dozens of thousands of dollars," police said. The woman received medical treatment at the airport and the plane resumed its flight to Turkey.

A few years ago a passenger on an Aeroflot flight complained that the cabin crew serving him were drunk and he would like to be attended by someone sober and capable. His request earned him a severe beating by two stewards, which left carnage over the aisle and the area of his seat. Reassuringly the entire crew was suspended after the flight landed.