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When a middle-aged man swore at airline staff after he was refused a drink on a flight from Manchester to Tenerife, he got a sunshine break he had not bargained for. The pilot diverted the charter plane and dumped the troublesome holidaymaker 300 miles from his destination on a barren volcanic island off the west coast of Africa.
The 53-year-old man was confined to Porto Santo, a Portuguese-administered desert island, nine miles long and three miles wide, for 36 hours after local police questioned him over the air rage incident.
According to the airline, Monarch, the man appeared to be drunk and repeatedly insulted cabin crew and fellow holidaymakers shortly after the Airbus A321 left Manchester on Tuesday evening.
Understood to be an Irish citizen living in Lancashire, he ignored numerous appeals to calm down when he was refused further alcoholic drinks. As the plane reached its cruising height of 35,000ft, the captain decided to make an unscheduled stop and throw the man off the plane.
The man, who was travelling alone and had purchased a one-way ticket to Tenerife, was frogmarched off the plane by police at the airport on the "golden isle", which is part of the Madeira archipelago and was discovered by Portuguese explorers in 1419.
His luggage was removed from the hold and searched. While he was questioned, the captain gave a statement to police before taking off again with the remaining 211 passengers, arriving in Tenerife nearly four hours late.
"He wanted a drink," said Gualter Gomez, a spokesman for the Madeira police. "When he ordered a drink he was told 'no' and so he caused a fight."
Mr Gomez said the tourist, whom police and airline staff refused to name, was cooperative but was now being investigated over accusations of "disruptive behaviour on an aeroplane", an offence under Portuguese law which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.
According to police, the new addition to the island's population of just 5,000 people was not detained in a cell and was released to enjoy the island's famed tranquillity for 36 hours.
While there is little vegetation on Porto Santo, home to Christopher Columbus before he set off to discover the Americas, the island boasts several luxury hotels and a golf course.
After his unscheduled break, during which he could have enjoyed local delicacies such as sweet table wine and octopus rice as well as the island's five-mile sandy beach, he travelled to nearby Madeira yesterday morning and boarded a flight for Tenerife, where he was understood to be staying last night.
A spokeswoman for Monarch said the man had not been physically violent but the airline was considering launching legal action against him for disrupting the flight and causing an expensive unscheduled stop. The airline said the passenger would not be welcome on their aircraft again.
"He was verbally abusive to our cabin crew. They asked him repeatedly to tone down his language but he continued to be verbally aggressive towards the crew and passengers," she said. A spokesman added: "Despite repeated attempts by Monarch scheduled staff to calm the individual, the passenger's behaviour did not improve and the decision was taken to divert to Porto Santo. The action was taken in the interests of all the passengers. That sort of behaviour is not acceptable. He was given the chance to calm down and he declined it. He was given a form, a caution for his behaviour, and he refused to sign it."
A British consular official in Madeira said she had spoken to the chief of police on the island about the incident but the holidaymaker had not requested any consular assistance. "He is free to go. He is not being detained," she said.
The Irish embassy in Lisbon said it had not handled any requests for help from the man.
According to Portuguese police, the man will have to report to Lancashire police as part of the conditions of his release. A Lancashire police spokeswoman said the force had not yet been contacted by Portuguese police.

You beat me by 9 minutes Mark. I am also the first reader and person to reply.

Ben have you been at the drinks cabinet already this morning?

Me drinking at this time of the morning... no.  :o

Did I hear you swallow a mouthful of beer then Mark? Tut tut what will the wee lassie think?  ;D

I stopped drinking eleven hours ago! And we've got no booze in the house so I've got to go out in the snow and find somewhere that will sell me some!!!!

Indeed! You actually count the hours!
It is pretty cold here to Mark.

Been ranging from -8 to -1 for the last few days in INverness. It has just started to snow today so it is around +1C.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/24hr.shtml?id=2244
Should warm up by tomorrow to about 5C. Even the canal has frozen up and rocks are sitting on it where the local kids have tried to see how thick it is!

I wonder how much all that cost. Pity they didn't throw this idiot out without a parachute.

He must have been a real problem for them to go to that extreme. It delayed the others by 4 hours. Shouldn't think they were too pleased.

That pilot must've been ice cold.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manc ... 569138.stm

Apparantly he is now facing a fine or jail.

Pheeww.. I though you meant the pilot, that would've been a shame.

Good morning

Unfortunately this happens all to often.

It used to be a big problem in the 1950s through the 1970s along with hijackings.

Several of us carried the 4 inch barreled Smith & Wesson 38 caliber revolver which fit nicely into a shoulder or belt holster and much more accurate than the snub nose police 38 revolver.
The 6 inch barrel was to large and used by police and security folks like Brinks and such.

It is funny how the largest boisterous and rambunctious idiot will turn to jelly and wet themselves when one sticks a 38 revolver between their lips.  They sit down real quick and don't even realize they stutter when they speak.

I wonder how many airline pilots carry a sidearm today like we used to?
Many of us during our careers carried sidearms and had some sort of hand to hand training.
It was common practice for the military along with some hand to hand combat training.  I just met two military pilots who must go through their escape and detection course again and the second time around is harder than the first and completely changed. I really feel sorry for the two of them .

We also carried a rifle and shotgun on our commercial flights as part of the survival equipment and well out of sight and reach by passengers.
This probably is not done anymore because of the success rate of ELTs and radios.

However I do say three cheers to this pilot but to delay a flight by four hours is not acceptable and the passenger should have been dumped off at the terminal building with his luggage or not to the custody of the airport police or manager and the flight on it's merry way within thirty minutes.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

I wonder how many airline pilots carry a sidearm today like we used to?

I don't wish to start a long discussion on this as it's a highly controversial subject. I could be wrong but I think it's illegal for the crew of any British airline to carry firearms of any type. Monarch is a small regional airline mainly concerned with carrying holidaymakers to popular destinations in Europe & I wouldn't expect the crew to carry firearms.

Seeing as most members here are from the US - I doubt this will be too contraversial Doug. I think considering the terrorism give the pilots not only guns but give them armed security too! I think one armed guard would cost nothing shared between 300 passengers and I'd gladly pay the 50p or however much it'd be on top of my ticket.

Seeing as most members here are from the US - I doubt this will be too contraversial Doug. I think considering the terrorism give the pilots not only guns but give them armed security too! I think one armed guard would cost nothing shared between 300 passengers and I'd gladly pay the 50p or however much it'd be on top of my ticket.

Sorry Ben. I couldn't help thinking when I first read about this incident that had there been an air marshal aboard that aircraft one of the passengers might now be dead.

As I said, it's a controversial subject. Please let it drop.