- 22-year-old man had to be tied up with eight seatbelts
- Newcastle-bound plane forced into emergency landing at Gatwick
- Passengers wept and panicked in fear
A plane passenger has been arrested after he went beserk at 36,000ft and tried to open the aircraft's doors.
The burly 22-year-old man, who screamed he was 'on a flight simulator', had to be restrained by air hostesses and passengers before being tied down with seatbelts.
Travellers aboard Thomson flight TOM1269 from Majorca to Newcastle were left terrified when the man, of Ashington, Northumberland, tried to throw open one of the emergency doors, shouting that he thought he was on a flight simulator.
The pilot diverted the plane to Gatwick Airport so the man could be arrested after being wrestled into submission aboard the flight.
The man was questioned by police on suspicion of endangering the safety of an aircraft.
A 28-year-old passenger, from Newcastle, who did not want to be named, said: 'It was absolutely mental.
'Suddenly all the lights came on and all the air hostesses were shouting and we could see a lad trying to open the emergency door.
'The plane started shaking. I thought it was going to go down.
'His friends tried to pull him away from the door and he started punching them and saying; "It's OK we are just on a flight simulator".
'He was off his head. Then this other guy came from nowhere and smacked him in the head.'
The mid-air drama started about 45 minutes into the early morning flight from Palma Airport yesterday.
Lights in the cabin were dimmed and most passengers were either sleeping or eating breakfast when they were disturbed as cabin crew suddenly switched the lights on and began dealing with the incident.
With help from other passengers the air hostesses managed to restrain the passenger and wrestle him into a seat.
They then used eight seatbelts to tie him up and the captain decided to make an emergency landing at Gatwick.
Children were crying and passengers were panicking as the plane made its sudden descent.
'The plane went down really quickly, it was quite a dodgy landing, ' the passenger continued.
'All our ears were popping. Then as soon as it came to a stop about six cops ran on board and arrested him.'
After police took statements from passengers and the plane was refuelled, the holidaymakers were able to continue their return journey to Newcastle.
Dan Alberts, 20, from Bensham, Gateshead, who was on the flight with a group of friends, said he heard one air hostess shout to the man that he could have killed everyone on board.
He said: 'We just heard a big bang and then he started going for the door.
'I wasn't scared. I have never seen in-flight entertainment like it.
'But one of the girls I was with started having a panic attack and there were
quite a few people crying.
'There were a lot of kids on the plane screaming their heads off.'
Gavin McCallum, from Billingham, Teesside, was on the flight with his wife
Sarah, 30, and children Freya, three, and Jack, two.
The 35-year-old said: 'It was terrifying. We didn't know that he had tried to
open the door until we landed and I'm quite grateful for that.
'When we were on the ground and realized what had happened it was quite disturbing.
'The cabin crew were fantastic. The pilot told me he had been flying for 20
years and that is the only time anything like that has happened.'
A spokeswoman for Thomson Airways said: 'In accordance with our procedures, the local authorities were notified of this incident and the aircraft was met by the police upon landing at Gatwick where the passenger was removed from the flight.
'We would like to reassure customers that it would not have been possible for this passenger to open the aircraft door whilst the aircraft was in the air.
'We would also like to reassure our customers that incidents of this type are extremely rare.'
A Sussex Police spokesman confirmed the man had been arrested and was being questioned following yesterday's incident.
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