A man who British police said “terrorised” cabin crew on a flight between Manchester Airport (MAN) in Northern England and Antalya Airport (AYT) in Turkey has been jailed for one year and 10 months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. Police said Lynton Bryan, 34, of Oldham threatened cabin crew, banged on the flight deck door and even attempted to open the emergency exit in-flight.
And all of this happened in front of perpetrators young child.
The incident took place last June when the flight to the popular Turkish holiday resort of Antalya was delayed on the tarmac by three hours. But just as the plane was taxiing onto the runway, Bryan decided to get out of his seat and open an overhead locker. Despite being warned numerous times by cabin crew, Bryan continued to get out of his seat, telling crew he was getting a sweet for his child.
From this point, things only got worse.
“In what was around a four-hour flight, Bryan became increasingly volatile, terrorising crew and passengers by following them around the plane, making aggressive gestures and shouting loudly,” Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.
“Throughout the entirety of the flight, he accused staff of being racist, becoming extremely more menacing with both his speech and his actions.”
At one point, Bryan started to “forcefully” bang on the flight deck door – which is thankfully bulletproof and unable to be opened from the outside. He then pulled “frantically” on the emergency exit door lever in what would appear to be an attempt to open the door.
Cabin crew tried to scold Bryan with little effect. Bryan even made threats to the cabin crew, claiming he would “hunt them down” and “hurt” them. Surprinsgly, the crew decided not to restrain Bryan despite his apparent efforts to break into the flight deck and open the emergency exit.
When it came time to land, Bryan refused to take a seat and remained standing for the duration of the landing, seemingly unaware that he was not only putting his own safety in danger but also everyone else’s as well.
“However oblivious he seemed to be to the fright and alarm he was causing people on that flight, he now has time to think about that and nothing else as he remains firmly grounded for the next 22 months,” commented Detective Constable Brad Howarth of Manchester’s airport policing department.
“With the amount of witness accounts we were able to put to him in interview, he had little room to deny his vicious and repulsive actions.”
Bryan pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment of an aircraft and jailed for 1 year and 10 months.
