An unruly passenger forced a Zurich-bound flight to return to New Jersey’s Newark Airport shortly after they roamed freely through the cabin, became abusive toward the crew, and tried to enter the cockpit, officials said.
Swiss International Air Lines Flight 19 took off from Newark Liberty International Airport at 9:50 p.m. Sunday but the pilot soon reported that one of the 233 passengers was causing a ruckus, NJ.com reported.
The pilot of the Airbus A330 declared: “PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN,” an aviation acronym for “possible assistance needed.”
He told the air traffic controller that the passenger was “getting worse” and “tried to enter the cockpit,” according to a recording of the call obtained from LiveATC.net.
“We couldn’t restrain the passenger. He is freely moving through the cabin,” he said.
An airline spokesman said one of the crew members was injured in the incident and taken to a local hospital, Swiss Info reported.
“The passenger behaved abusively towards the crew,” Swiss International Airlines told NJ.com in a statement, adding that the flight was canceled and the passengers would be re-booked.
The passenger, whose identity has not been released, was met by police in Newark.
Information about possible charges was not immediately available from Port Authority police. The exact nature of the disturbance also was not available.
The pilot told the controller that the plane’s brakes overheated as a result of the overweight landing and requested that firefighters inspect the landing gear.