'Air rage' man jailed after threat to open aircraft doors

An abusive holiday-maker who threatened to open the doors of a packed holiday jet at more than 30,000 feet was jailed for a year yesterday.

David McCallum, 29, slapped his cousin during a violent row on the flight from Newcastle to Tenerife, which left some of the 235 passengers traumatised, Newcastle Crown Court was told. Passengers were so frightened by the ordeal in November 1999 that their holidays were ruined, while others were afraid to fly again, Judge David Wood told the defendant as he passed sentence.

McCallum, of Leith, Edinburgh,had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to affray but looked stunned as he was led from the dock to begin his sentence.

The judge said: "Threatening to open the door of the aeroplane must have terrified all of the people who were there and caused a great deal of distress to a very large number of passengers."

He added: "It doesn't need a great imagination to realise what a dangerous situation that can be ... This kind of aggressive conduct will not be tolerated."

The court was told that McCallum, who was on medication to cope with anxiety attacks,slapped hiscousin Rebecca McCallum, 20, after she had punched him and yanked his hair during an argument. McCallum also threw lager over his cousin, which splashed other passengers.

He was moved to the front of the Britannia Airways 757 aircraft where he then made his threat to other passengers to open the doors and abused an elderly passenger who asked him to be quiet.

The pilot locked the door to the flight deck and considered diverting the flight to Lisbon to deal with the disruption.