Category: AVIATION

United Airlines had to divert a flight from Miami to Newark, N.J. to Orlando, Fla. after a passenger bit a flight attendant and became “aggressive and disruptive” according to the airline. The incident was captured by another passenger on their cell phone and shows the woman on United Flight 762 with her hands tied behind her back in the plane’s aisle as she yelled at flight attendants and passengers. As the airline employees tried to restrain her, the woman allegedly bit an attendant’s shoulder before spitting on another person. An eyewitness also reported that the woman threw punches during the conflict. “People are recording me,” she said at one point in the video, which was also shared by several news outlets, before alleging an “attitude problem” with United employees, threatening to kill someone and calling a passenger an “old lady” before telling her to “go back to Russia.”

A flight en route to Manchester, New Hampshire diverted on July 3 after a man allegedly dropped his pants and urinated in the aisle of the aircraft. 25-year-old Neil McCarthy from Oregon was arrested and charged with indecent exposure upon arrival at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. He was released after making his initial appearance in federal court in Buffalo, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York. Following the incident, the American Eagle flight resumed its journey from Buffalo, according to an email statement from American Airlines. “We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding,” the statement said.

A pilot for United Airlines was arrested on suspicion of revenge porn against his ex-girlfriend, a work colleague at the airline. More than ten years after pilot Andrew Hill, 36, and his girlfriend broke up his ex-girlfriend told police he sought revenge by “making online profiles pretending to be her and posting nude images of her for more than a decade.” According to the probable cause affidavit, a Cedar City woman reported that someone had been creating fake profiles pretending to be her online and distributing nude and intimate images of her on adult websites. The woman’s personal phone number was shared, which led to random men contacting her for sex. He was arrested at San Francisco airport, was later booked into Utah’s Iron County jail and charged with pornography distribution, unlawful distribution of an intimate image, electronic communication harassment, stalking and online impersonation.

A 20-year-old man was handcuffed, restrained and dragged off Jet2 flight LS155 from Glasgow to Tenerife after attacking crew members. He was dragged off a Jet2 flight in handcuffs and with a seatbelt tied around his legs after he allegedly attacked crew members and passengers. The flight left Glasgow headed to Tenerife but diverted to Ireland to Ireland so that the passenger could be removed. Footage from a passenger on the plane showed the man being removed from the aircraft wearing only shorts as Garda officers took him into custody. He has been banned for life from Jet2.

Electricity was cut and major airports were forced to close in Nigeria in early June. The country’s largest labor unions began a strike to demand salary increases. The country is experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in decades, reports say. Government workers failed to show up and in some cases shut down offices, including at airports in the capital of Abuja and the economic hub of Lagos. Hundreds of passengers were stranded after local airlines suspended flight operations. An aviation workers association said workers “should stay away until further notice.” “We demand a living wage,” the Nigerian Labour Congress said in a post on X. The post said what they currently earn was a “starvation wage.” It and the Trade Union Congress represent hundreds of thousands of government workers across key sectors. The strike also impacted the national electricity grid, shutting down power at a key transmission station, the Transmission Company of Nigeria said.

71 people were injured in severe turbulence during a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore and a 73-year-old British man died in the incident from a suspected heart condition, according to the general manager of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn. The turbulence tossed passengers and crew around the cabin and forced the plane to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. The Boeing 777-300ER was about 10 hours into its flight and midway through a meal service when it hit turbulence. The aircraft was over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin, according to the airline, when the turbulence hit. The man was identified as Geoff Kitchen, who was described as “always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity” by the Thornbury Musical Theatre Group, where he worked for more than 35 years.

A man in Kansas pleaded guilty to illegally exporting sensitive aviation technology to Russian companies in violation of U.S. sanctions. Douglas Edward Robertson was the second Kansas business executive to plead guilty to charges after being accused of smuggling, money laundering, violating U.S. export regulations, submitting false or misleading information to export regulators and conspiring to commit crimes against the U.S., all for profit. The arrests, and arrest of a Latvian, came as the U.S. ramped up sanctions against Russia. According to prosecutors, starting in October 2020, the defendants sought to sell electronics that included threat detection systems and flight, navigation and communications controls, to two Russian aircraft parts distributors, a Russian aircraft repair firm and a Russian aircraft services company. They sought to hide their unlicensed activities by going through companies and using bank accounts elsewhere, including Armenia, Cyprus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates. “Those who seek to profit by illegally selling sophisticated U.S. technology to our adversaries are putting the national security of our country at risk,” Robert Wells, the executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, said in a statement.

Alexander MacDonald, 30, of Chelmsford, England, a passenger who yelled and became physically aggressive on a United Airlines flight from London to Newark caused the crew to divert to Bangor, Maine, in March. United Airlines Flight 883 left Heathrow Airport near London on March 1 and headed to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Several hours into the flight the lead flight attendant heard loud arguing and asked the man to lower his voice, according to an affidavit. He agreed, but minutes later he was yelling again, this time at another flight attendant, the affidavit says. The cabin crew tried to calm MacDonald down but he “would not listen and continued to be verbally and physically aggressive,” according to the affidavit. MacDonald threatened to “mess up the plane,” the affidavit states. He also put his hands on the purser’s shoulders and backed the purser into a corner, the document says. Crew and passengers restrained him in flexible handcuffs. He “continued to be noncompliant” and the flight was diverted. MacDonald has been ordered to pay the airline $20,638 in restitution, according to federal prosecutors. He was sentenced April 25 to time already served, prosecutors said. He had been in custody since March 1, when he was arrested after the flight landed at Bangor International Airport. He pleaded guilty on March 22 to one count of interfering with a flight crew, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

“Hostile elements” apparently attempted to take over the communication network of an El aircraft flying from Phuket to Ben-Gurion Airport on February 17. The group attempted to divert it from its destination, Israel’s national airline confirmed. The plane was able to continue to its destination safely. This was the second time an attempt like that occurred in the same week, a KAN Reshet B report stated. The incident took place where the Houthis are active, although sources in Somalia say a group there was responsible for the attempted attack. During the incident, instructions were given to the crew that differed from their preplanned route. The crew did not follow the instructions, switching to an alternative frequency and checking with ATC. The crew quickly realized they were being misled. A source said hostile elements contacted El Al pilots twice, once on the flight between Phuket and Ben-Gurion and once on a flight to Bangkok. A statement from El Al stressed that “the disturbances are not aimed at El Al planes and that this is not a security incident. The disruption did not affect the normal course of the flight thanks to the professionalism of the pilots who used the alternative means of communication and allowed the flight to continue on the planned route.”

WestJet flight 710 diverted to Winnipeg after a passenger tried to open the plane door. An 18-year-old man from B.C. allegedly tried to open the door of an aircraft during the flight. This caused the plane to be diverted to Winnipeg, a spokesperson for Winnipeg Airports Authority said. The RCMP Manitoba received reports of an unruly passenger trying to open the aircraft’s emergency door about half an hour before the plane landed, they said in a statement the next day. “Crew and other passengers had intervened and held him until they landed in Winnipeg. He was arrested without incident,” the statement said. Emergency medical services also met the plane when it landed, a WestJet spokesperson said. “Our crew are trained to handle passengers who may pose a safety hazard to themselves or others, as well as in de-escalating many situations to protect everyone on board,” the spokesperson said to CBC News. The RCMP said the man was charged with endangering an aircraft under the Aeronautics Act.