Texas air passenger arrested for getting too rowdy (another attempt to enter cockpit)

Associated Press ^ | Feb. 11, 2004, 8:15AM | nobyline

[weegee]

DETROIT- A Texas man was charged with interfering with a Northwest Airlines crew during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Robert L. Starks, 38, was arrested when the plane landed Monday in Detroit.

The oil worker from Burleson, Texas, became boisterous two hours into the eight-hour flight, cursed passengers and the flight crew and tried to enter the cockpit, according to an affidavit by FBI agents Angela Ryan and Terry Booth.

The captain considered diverting the flight to Iceland, but changed his mind when Starks fell asleep, according to the affidavit.

The agents said Starks admitted to using alcohol and a painkiller to calm his anxiety about flying, according to a Wednesday report in the Detroit Free Press.

U.S. Magistrate Steven Pepe released Starks on $5,000 unsecured bond and ordered him to undergo psychological tests to determine whether he may fly back to the Middle East to work pending his trial.

The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[Stopislamnow]

Ya know, if I was a passenger now, and someone tried to get into the cockpit, they'd need a body bag ready at the destination.


No joke. Sorry, but I'd do whatever it takes ASAP to take whoever out. Those phones on the planes are hard plastic, excellent blunt trauma can be delivered with one.

[cavtrooper21]

Dumba$$ is lucky his fellow passengers didn't stomp his head in...
Unauthorized entry into the cockpit makes flyers kinda jumpy these days.

[Finalapproach29er]

Ban Alcohol. Bring back smoking on flights.

[vpintheak]

What is going on with all these morons?

[pax_et_bonum]

Rowdy Texan ping. :)

[weegee]

More background information in the Fort Worth Star Telegram article:

Burleson man arrested after disturbance on Detroit-bound flight

[deport]

The oil worker from Burleson, Texas,

---

Damn, what's wrong with the Burleson Texas people..... Maybe this ol' boys wife had her toys confiscated......

DALLAS (Reuters) - Joanne Webb is a mother of three, a Baptist, a booster of the town of Burleson, Texas, and a former schoolteacher. She also faces trial for being a smut merchant.

Webb, 43, was arrested in November by two undercover police officers for selling sexual toys and charged with violating Texas obscenity laws. She could face up to a year in jail and a fine of $4,000 if convicted.

Webb is a representative for Passion Parties, a California company marketing potions, lotions and sexual toys sold at gatherings that mimic Tupperware parties.

[weegee]

All I can say is be grateful that these nuts aren't attempting to open the emergency exit doors.

[mylife]

yeeeee haaawwww

[Denver Ditdat]

All I can say is be grateful that these nuts aren't attempting to open the emergency exit doors.

"Attempt" would be about as far as they could go. Let's run a few numbers:

At FL360 the differential pressure between the pressurized fuselage and ambient atmosphere is approximately 7psi. A type IV exit (the smallest) measures 19" wide by 26" high, for a total of of 494 square inches. Those exits are plug doors - they open inward rather than outward. In other words, each of those 494 square inches is being held in place by 7 pounds of pressure. 494 x 7 = 3,458. A ton and a half.

Unless that Texan's name was Bruce Banner, all he would have accomplished by trying to open an overwing exit is to get a bunch of people really angry.

[TheBigB]

The passenger had to be sedated after he started stomping up and down the aisle, yelling, "We're gonna win New Hampshire! And Nebraska! And Oklahoma! And Florida! YEEEARRGGHH!!"

[thackney]

I nevered entered the cockpit, but I have been a drunk Texan flying back from a Middle East Oil job...

[pax_et_bonum]

I've been a nearly drunk Texan in the bar before a flight who sobered immediately upon take-off.

I'm a real weenie when it comes to flying.

:)

[weegee]

I want the airline to release me from any damages attempting to tackle a passenger who attempts to enter the cockpit. If they had air marshalls, I wouldn't need to protect myself this way.

[Eaker]

I nevered entered the cockpit, but I have been a drunk Texan flying back from a Middle East Oil job...

Don't you still owe the bail money after this incident????

;<)

[Xenalyte]

Burleson doesn't produce the best and the brightest, that's for sure. (My first fiance was from Burleson, so I know of what I speak.)

[PBRSTREETGANG]

So, how did the Air Marshall(s) react?

[thackney]

Don't you still owe the bail money after this incident????

Naw, we got a group discount as 75% of a 747 were involved.