Unruly Passenger Booted Off Flight for Threatening Wings Air Crew
9 July 2016 18:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Wings Air passenger bound for Langur was deplaned for disobeying the cabin crew's instructions. The passenger - with the initials 'O.K.' - were forced off the plane after making threats directed to the cabin crew aboard the aircraft.
"The cabin crew's decision is the right one, as passenger safety and security is their responsibility - especially the pilot," said the Director For Aviation Safety for the Transport Ministry, M. Nasir Usman, on Saturday, July 9, 2016. "All passengers must follow the cabin crew's instruction throughout the flight."
The incident is known to have happened on Saturday, July 8, 2016 at 14:21 local time at Ambon's Pattimura International Airport. According to Nasir, the Langur-bound passenger was due to travel aboard Wings Air Flight IW1504 on an aircraft registered as PK-WGV, before the incident occurred.
The incident occurred when a stewardess asked O.K. to stow his child's tray table - which was met with a complaint from O.K., who said that the stewardess was disrupting his child's meal time. The stewardess, informed the chief purser aboard the aircraft, who once again, told O.K. to stow his child's tray table and open his window shades up, to no avail.
At around 12:52 local time, the aircraft took off from the runway - but by that time, the chief purser have already informed the flight deck that there was an 'unruly passenger' on board. The flight captain, Frederick Cholla, ordered another cabin crew to approach O.K. - and this time around, O.K. began to make threats and pulled ranks on the cabin crew.
At 13:41 local time, Cholla decided to return to base - and O.K. was deplaned and detained by authorities for questioning. "At around 16:30, the passenger in question was flown out of Ambon to Langur on a Garuda Indonesia flight," said Nasir - who explained that no penalties were given because the passenger had already apologised. "No further actions were pursued as all parties have already reached an understanding."
DINI PRAMITA
