Airbus Dumps Passenger Overboard

[michaeledward]

This should be a warning about consuming alcohol prior to your flight .... I think.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/30/ncrusoe30.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/12/30/ixportal.html

The unnamed passenger's difficulties began on Tuesday evening at 35,000 ft when he began abusing the cabin crew of flight ZB558 from Manchester. He refused to calm down and then turned his attention to the other 210 passengers.
Eventually the pilot decided that he posed a risk to safety and had to be removed.
Rather than continue for a further 45 minutes to Tenerife he diverted his Airbus A321 to Porto Santo. Within moments of the plane touching down the passenger was escorted to the terminal. Last night he remained a castaway on the Portuguese-controlled island. His New Year home is a mere 10 miles long by three miles wide with a population of 4,000. There is little entertainment apart from walking on the sand dunes.

 

[Fluffy]

Three cheers for the pilot! Hope he doesn't get in trouble.......ya-know PR.

-Fluff

 

[green meanie]

Excellent! :boing1:

 

[terryl965]

Way to go pilot and I hope the guy learns a lesson in life.
Terry

 

[Henderson]

Just another confirmation of the need for Air Marshals. Good for that pilot! I don't think I'd have been so considerate.

 

[Fluffy]

Just another confirmation of the need for Air Marshals. Good for that pilot! I don't think I'd have been so considerate.

Hand'm a parashoot at 35,000? Hold your breath.......pop the seal.....and aawwaayy we go!

 

[Bigshadow]

Three cheers for the pilot! Hope he doesn't get in trouble.......ya-know PR.

-Fluff

He won't get into trouble. The Pilot has absolute authority on the aircraft and can make that decision if he feels the safety of the flight is in jeopardy. A pilot can also disregard directives from flight controllers if the safety of the aircraft is at risk by following their directives.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well... there's going to be (hopefully for the better) new rules made because of this... to prevent this from happening again.

Yes, Bigshadow is correct that the "captian" has absolute authority on board and in flight of his craft. Same with a ship's captian.

 

[jdinca]

Very nice. The guys lucky the passengers didn't turn on him.

 

[Martial Tucker]

Very nice. The guys lucky the passengers didn't turn on him.

That's what I was thinking. Actually, I have discussed situations like this with a very close friend who is an ex-marine and currently a pilot for a major US airline. (the guy in this story is lucky my friend wasn't flying, he wouldn't have bothered to land the plane before he threw the guy off)
Anyway, I asked my friend/pilot what a trained MA'ist should do in such a situation. He said it would be best to hold off getting involved unless it was clear the situation was getting out of hand, and there was clearly no one in an authority position on the plane that could handle the problem. He said there are air marshalls on flights more often than you think, and if you are too quick to get involved you may cause undue confusion and more problems, including getting yourself hurt if an air marshall does become involved after you do.

Personally, I would find it very difficult to just sit there and do nothing while someone terrorizes an entire plane full of people.....

 

[jdinca]

Personally, I would find it very difficult to just sit there and do nothing while someone terrorizes an entire plane full of people.....

I agree totally. I'm used to being in a position of control and fixing problems. I could sit and let it go for quite a while but if it came to this point, I would feel compelled to talk with the crew and pilot and fix the problem. Think of the impact on the other passengers, not just because of his behavior but also because of the delay resulting from making a detour to dump him.

 

[Dan G]

Passenger did OK out of it, Porto Santo sounds like a nice place.

 

[michaeledward]

Passenger did OK out of it, Porto Santo sounds like a nice place.

The airline is considering bringing suit against the passenger to recover the costs of the diversion. That would be truly sweet irony. Costs probably in the tens of thousands of dollars.

 

[Dan G]

The airline is considering bringing suit against the passenger to recover the costs of the diversion. That would be truly sweet irony. Costs probably in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Sounds likely, and would definitely dig into the holiday spending money.

 

[BrandiJo]

haha i think the caption did right, as for the sueing of the guy thats pry a step to far cus they didnt "have" to drop him off

 

[arnisador]

Good deal.