Trapped in an aircraft, 37,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, passengers aboard a flight from China were forced to face a violent man head-on Saturday, and restrain him.
According to witnesses China Southern Airlines flight 329 was halfway into its 12,000-kilometre flight to Vancouver from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport when a man started throwing punches.
‘I heard screaming and there was a fellow swinging at everyone — swinging at stewards, swinging at passengers and heading toward the back where the emergency door was,” passenger James Leigh said. “And I realized no one was doing anything, no one could stop this guy.
“I basically had to jump on him and hold him down while they brought out handcuffs.”
Witnesses said the man appeared loud and belligerent when he boarded the plane, and appeared to continue drinking as the flight went on.
“I was sitting on him holding him down. He kept on trying to get up and fight with me,” Leigh said.
After three hours of physically restraining him, Leigh said the man fell asleep and was moved to a seat. Leigh was asked to sit beside him.
“I was a little disappointed,” he said. “You would think they’d have some other method — a taser or something — that I wouldn’t have to jump in because I’m the biggest guy on the flight.”
Richmond RCMP took the man into custody when the flight landed at Vancouver International Airport and are holding him pending assault charges. He will appear in court Monday afternoon.
Recent numbers from the Air Transport Association say there are approximately 4,000 incidents of air rage each year, but the Association of Flight Attendants say only a handful of people are fined.
