Mid-air chaos as passenger escorted off aircraft after they ‘tried to hit crew and open door’
A passenger on a Saudia Airlines flight into London Heathrow Airport allegedly went ‘berserk’ and police and firefighters were forced to escort him off the plane
A Saudia Airlines flight was met with an army of responders when it landed in the UK after a passenger went “berserk” – before he tried to punch a crew member and open the door of the plane.
The unruly passenger was taken away by police following the routine flight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to London Heathrow after the meltdown. While Heathrow operations were unaffected, fellow passengers on the plane were left “frightened” after the mayhem broke out upon the plane’s arrival at the UK airport just before 1pm on Thursday (28 Aug).
A source told The Sun: “It was chaos on board and very frightening for families.”
A man on board Flight SV119 argued with a cabin crew staff member and then struck him before trying to open the door of the jet as the plane taxied to a stand at Terminal 4.
The Boeing 747 was forced to hit the brakes and come to a standstill as pilots alerted the services to the emergency. Onlookers saw stairs being hastily erected allowing officials to enter the cockpit as four fire trucks, six police vehicles and ambulances surrounded the plane.
The source added: “The plane had wheels down but a passenger was so agitated and struck out at the crew because he wanted to get off there and then.
“It was crazy so close to reaching the aircraft stand.
“Passengers and airport workers looking on were dumbstruck at the emergency operation as fire, ambulance and police vehicles dashed to the scene.”
The plane, which left the Middle East 38 minutes late, took more than six hours to reach the UK on Thursday.
The Daily Star has approached Airline Saudia for comment.
The Met Police said: “Officers at London Heathrow Airport were called to an aircraft, which had recently landed at 12:57hrs on Thursday, 28 August following reports of a disturbance.
“Officers arrested a 33-year-old man on suspicion of endangering an aircraft, two counts of assault by beating, behaving in a threatening, abusive or disorderly manner towards a member of aircraft crew and damaging an aircraft.
“He has since been released under investigation as enquiries continue. “
Last week, 20 passengers were told to get off a London plane to stop the aircraft overheating. The heat in question made the plane too heavy to get off the ground.
British Airways was due to operate a flight to London City Airport from Florence’s Amergio Verspucci Airport earlier this month. However, a problem caused by the heat and the subsequent filling of the tank meant that over a dozen people had to get off the plane.
On August 11, the day the plane was due to take off, temperatures in the Italian city reached a sweltering 35C. This caused the air above Italy to become less dense, which in turn made it harder to reach the cruising altitude.
As a result, the BA Embraer ERJ-190 required extra petrol for the journey so that it could perfectly and safely make the crossing across Europe. But as a result of the extra fuel, it then made the plane too heavy to fly, meaning some of the passengers had to be deplaned.
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