A loud reverberating sonic boom, which rattled windows for kilometres and brought a flood of phone calls to police, turned out to be the sound of fighter jets ripping though the sound barrier as they sped to intercept a passenger plane on which a young woman had gone berserk.
The incident earlier this week produced a “huge bang” which one man said “nearly blew my window out”.
Britain’s Royal Air Force scrambled two supersonic Eurofighter Typhoons to intercept a Jet2 Airbus 321 near London Stansted airport, after an emergency aboard the plane involving a woman who allegedly rushed towards the cockpit and threatened to kill passengers. The flight was heading for Turkey but the pilot turned back to London.
The sonic boom was heard for up to 65 kilometres in every direction. The two Typhoons neared their top speed of around Mach 2, or 2500 km/h, as they raced to intercept the Airbus – in case the woman’s crazed behaviour was an act of terrorism.
On the Airbus A321, meanwhile, the “intoxicated” woman at the centre of the commotion was being pinned to a seat by six cabin crew and passengers, London’s Sun online reported.
Shouting threats, screaming, scratching and hitting – the berserk woman, described by another passenger as “clearly intoxicated”, was finally subdued – but only after people sat on her.
Police said they arrested a 25-year-old English woman on suspicion of common assault, criminal damage and endangering an aircraft on the flight from Stansted to Dalaman, Turkey.
The woman was later released on bail, the paper reported.
A Jet2 spokesman said: “We are aware of an incident regarding an extremely disruptive passenger on a flight from Stansted to Dalaman earlier this evening.
“The aircraft has returned safely and we are liaising with the relevant authorities to support their investigation.
“We are working hard to ensure the remaining customers reach their destination as soon possible.”
Written by Peter Needham
.jpg){kind=tracking}
