Delta Air Lines: Flight attendant breaks two wine bottles on man's head as he fights to open hatch, court documents reveal

FBI report says Joseph Hudek continued to fight back and it took several passengers to restrain him

The aftermath of the incident on Delta Flight 129 from Seattle to Beijing (AP)

A flight attendant was forced to break two wine bottles over the head of a passenger who tried to open the plane’s exit door thousands of feet over the ocean, court documents have revealed.

The steward broke the first bottle over the head of Joseph Daniel Hudek IV, 23, who had lunged for the door and fought with other passengers during a Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle to Beijing. But it didn't faze him, an FBI agent wrote in charging papers filed on Friday.

Mr Hudek, of Tampa, Florida, appeared in US District Court, wearing a beige jail uniform and sporting a scrape or bruise below his right eye.

He was arrested on Thursday night after causing the disturbance that forced the plane to return to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, authorities said.

Mr Hudek did not speak during the hearing. His attorney, Robert Flennaugh II, declined to comment.

Mr Hudek was charged with interfering with a flight crew, which carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 (£194,000) fine. He is expected to remain in custody at least until a detention hearing on Thursday.

One flight attendant and a passenger were taken to a hospital after suffering severe facial injuries, authorities said. Perry Cooper, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, described the injuries as non-life-threatening.

A probable cause statement written by FBI special agent Caryn Highley said Mr Hudek was sitting in the first row of the Boeing 767's first-class section. He asked a flight attendant for a beer before takeoff, and was served one, but he exhibited no sign of being intoxicated and ordered no other alcoholic drinks, the attendant told authorities.

About an hour into the flight, while the plane was over the Pacific Ocean northwest of Vancouver Island, Mr Hudek went into the forward restroom. He came out quickly, asked the attendant a question, and went back in, the agent wrote.

When he came out again two minutes later, he suddenly lunged for the exit door, grabbed the handle and tried to open it, Ms Highley wrote. Two attendants grabbed him, but he pushed them away, and the attendants signalled for help from several passengers and notified the cockpit by telephone, the complaint said.

Mr Hudek punched one flight attendant twice in the face and struck at least one passenger in the head with a red dessert wine bottle, it said.

As the struggle continued, a flight attendant grabbed two wine bottles and hit Mr Hudek over the head with each – breaking at least one of them, Ms Highley wrote.

“Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full litre red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted, 'Do you know who I am?',” the complaint said.

One passenger got him in a headlock, but he broke out of it, until finally several passengers held him long enough to place zip-tie restraints on him, Ms Highley wrote. Even then he remained combative, she said, and it took multiple passengers to keep him restrained until the plane landed and Port of Seattle police arrested him.

Mr Hudek had been traveling on a “dependent pass”, the complaint said. Such passes allow certain relatives of Delta employees to fly standby.

Passenger Dustin Jones told KIRO-TV that he saw the man being rolled into the terminal in a wheelchair after the plane landed.

“He started yelling for help,” Mr Jones said. “And so he turned the wheelchair over in the middle of the airport, screaming for people to help him, just being belligerent.”

The flight left for Beijing later on Thursday night.

AP