Air rage man tried to headbutt plane’s captain

The actions of a passenger who tried to headbutt the captain of a transatlantic aircraft “could have had catastrophic consequences” a court was told yesterday.

Judge Patrick Durcan made his comment when ordering Damian Kington, aged 35, to pay €4,300 in compensation to BA and a poor box donation arising from the air rage incident that forced the flight to divert to Shannon on Wednesday.

Living in New York, Australian national Kington was on board the exclusive business class 32-seater service that BA operates between New York’s JFK Airport and London city airport.

Kington pleaded guilty to two related air rage offences.

Judge Durcan said: “Mr Kington suffered a huge change in character by virtue of an unfortunate combination of drugs and alcohol.”

The court heard that, during the flight, Kington stood over two passengers in an intimidating way and called them paedophiles.

Kington’s continuing disruption of the flight and his refusal to go back to his seat forced the Captain, Commander Mike Jones, to intervene.

In a statement to gardaí, Commander Jones said “he [Kington] swore at me, pushed me, and tried to headbutt me.”

Judge Durcan ordered Kington to pay €3,367 in compensation and donate €1,000 to the poor box.