A “nervous flyer” whose unruly behaviour caused his transatlantic flight to be diverted to Dublin has been given a two-month suspended sentence.
Dublin district court heard that the 34-year-old American had mixed the tranquilliser Xanax with alcohol to combat his anxiety before becoming disruptive on the United Airlines flight on Monday.
Justice Finan suspended the jail sentence for two years on Tuesday, describing the man’s behaviour as “appalling”. However, she said she had noted his written apology and his compliance with an order to pay €10,000 (£8,435) for damages he caused.
The man, Zachary Greear, was “horrified and embarrassed” by his behaviour and had offered a “most sincere apology”, said his solicitor, Eoghan O’Sullivan.
After being arrested in Dublin airport, the climate research analyst pleaded guilty to three offences under Ireland’s Air Navigation and Transport Act – intoxication, threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, and causing annoyance onboard an aircraft.
The court heard that the flight to New York had taken off from Amsterdam in the morning and that during the flight Greear had become “unruly”. He was highly intoxicated and urinated in his seat and in the aisle, an Irish police officer said.
The plane had been airborne for two hours and was cruising over Donegal when the captain made the decision to divert, dumping €30,000 worth of fuel before landing.
The Garda said that on arrest Greear “couldn’t understand where he was” due to his level of intoxication but had since apologised. He had no previous convictions.
During the hearing on Monday, O’Sullivan said his client accepted the disruption he had caused and would pay whatever was necessary to cover the cost of the diversion, offering $5,000 (£4,105).
The judge said the offer “doesn’t even touch the damage that this man has caused” and told Greear to return to court on Tuesday with “double that”.
“Can you imagine the fear and trauma he caused to a pilot who is trying to manage people safely on his aircraft, to passengers, to employees of the airline who have to dump fuel and turn around a flight and land in a jurisdiction they never expected to be in?” the judge said.
On Monday, Ryanair released details of a €15,000 claim it has launched in Dublin’s courts against a passenger who allegedly caused a flight to Lanzarote to be diverted to Porto last April.
