Man arrested after disturbing a Calgary-Toronto Air Canada flight
Peel Regional Police say charges are pending
Peel Regional Police have arrested a man who was allegedly causing a disturbance on an incoming flight from Calgary.
Nobody was injured, police said, and the suspect was taken into custody around 5:20 a.m. Police say charges against the man are pending. Air Canada said the incident occurred on flight AC1312, an overnight flight, which had 199 customers on board.
One woman on the flight said she was awakened by the sound of yelling at the back of the plane where two passengers appeared to be in an altercation with one another.
"It kind of felt like a really escalated one-sided bar fight," said CBC producer Jesara Sinclair, who was on the plane. "It didn't feel any scarier than that other the fact that you're all in a tin can and stuck together for another hour and a half."
Sinclair said flight attendants eventually managed to restrain the man after the captain announced that an intoxicated individual was on board and that the plane would be forced to land in Thunder Bay if he didn't sit down.
"There were obviously some safety concerns, I mean you're up in the air," said Sinclair.
The plane managed to land in Toronto at 6 a.m. to cheers from the passengers, who were let off before air marshals came to escort the man off the plane.
Sinclair described the man as having a small build, short dark hair, wearing a white sweater. She said he is a non-English speaker.
Air Canada didn't elaborate on what the man allegedly did, as the incident is now considered a police matter.'
In a statement released Thursday, Peel police say a 34-year-old man was arrested and charged with six counts of breach of probation, one count of mischief and endangering the safety of aircraft.
He was held pending a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton Thursday.
The incident comes one day after a Fort McMurray man forced a Delhi-bound Air Canada flight to turn around after he allegedly assaulted a flight attendant.
There was more drama in the sky yesterday when a Toronto-bound Air Canada Flight 88 encountered severe turbulence that left several passengers injured. There were no passengers from Flight 88 aboard this trip, Air Canada said.