A 26-year-old woman has been jailed for two years after trying to open the door of a passenger plane in mid-air.

Chloe Haines was found guilty of endangering the safety of an aircraft and assaulting a member of cabin crew at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday.

The air rage incident occurred onboard a Jet2 flight last June, which was flying to Dalaman in Turkey.

The aircraft was forced to return to the UK when she allegedly tried to open the aircraft door in mid-air, forcing the RAF to scramble two Eurofighter Typhoon jets to intercept it.

Onboard the flight, cabin crew member Charley Coombes suffered scratches as she fought to prevent Haines from opening the plane door, who was yelling “I’m going to kill you all”.

Haines, who had pleaded guilty to assault and endangering the safety of an aircraft at an earlier hearing, later said that she “blacked out and didn’t really remember what happened” after mixing alcohol with medication, said prosecutor Michael Crimp.

Sentencing Haines, Judge Charles Gratwicke said: “Those that are trapped in the confined space of the aircraft will inevitably be distressed, frightened and petrified by the actions of those who in a drunken state endanger their lives.

“For some it will be their worst nightmare come true.”

Jet2 claimed that the incident cost them £86,000.

Between 2007 and 2017, there were over 66,000 incidents of air rage reported to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

Additional reporting by agencies

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