A drunken man who threatened to open the door of a First Choice aircraft at 30,000ft (9,144m) has been jailed for 12 months.
Dean Lyons, 29, of Basingstoke, Hampshire, lunged at the door of the Boeing 767-300 to the horror of the 257 passengers and 11 crew onboard.
The plane, full of tourists travelling from Gatwick to Cuba, was forced to make an emergency landing in Bermuda.
Lyons pleaded guilty to being drunk on a plane during the incident on 16 July.
Police boarded the plane in Bermuda, and passengers cheered as they led Lyons away.
Zero tolerance
He was arrested on his return to Gatwick on 18 July.
The passengers were able to continue on to Cuba the next day.
Lyons also admitted a separate offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) after punching a man in a Basingstoke pub on 23 December 2007.
He was jailed for 12 months for both offences at Winchester Crown Court.
A First Choice spokeswoman said: "First Choice is satisfied with the outcome of the court hearing as Mr Lyons's actions on flight FCA 082 were not only reckless and dangerous, but caused a huge amount of disruption to our customers' holidays.
"The safety of all our customers and crew is our number one priority and First Choice Airways operates a zero tolerance policy in regards to abusive or drunken behaviour on our flights."
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~48~RS~)