Chloe Haines: Woman who ‘tried to open plane door mid-flight’ pleads guilty to endangering aircraft and assault

There is ‘no question that she was drunk’, lawyer tells court

A woman has pleaded guilty to assault and endangering the safety of an aircraft after a passenger plane to Turkey was forced to divert back to Stansted Airport.

Chloe Haines, 26, appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.

She allegedly tried to open the aircraft door during a tirade aboard a Jet2 flight in June, forcing the RAF to scramble two Eurofighter Typhoon jets to intercept it.

On board the flight, a cabin crew member allegedly suffered scratches as she tried to prevent Haines from opening the plane door on 22 June.

The Airbus plane was on its way to Dalaman in Turkey when it was forced to return to the UK.

Haines, outside Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court in November (PA)

Haines denied a charge of drunkenness on an aircraft.

Defence barrister Oliver Saxby said there was “no question that she was drunk” but that the charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft was the “more serious alternative”.

Haines, of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, was bailed to return to the court on 24 January for sentencing.

Earlier this year eyewitnesses told how she sent a flight attendant “flying across the plane” and screamed, “I’m going to kill everyone”.

Jet2 claimed it had suffered £85,000 costs because of the disruption.

Additional reporting by Press Association