Intoxicated ‘nervous flyer’ caused New York flight to divert to Dublin
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American Zachary Greear, 34, receives suspended sentence after unruly behaviour on United Airlines plane. A “nervous flyer” whose unruly behaviour caused his transatlantic flight to be diverted to Dublin has been handed a two-month suspended sentence.
Dublin district court heard that the 34-year-old American had mixed the tranquiliser Xanax with alcohol to combat his anxiety before becoming disruptive on the United Airlines flight on Monday. Justice Finan suspended the jail sentence for two years on Tuesday, describing the man’s behaviour as “appalling”. However, she said she had noted his written apology and his compliance with an order to pay €10,000 (£8,435) for damages he caused.
The man, Zachary Greear, was “horrified and embarrassed” by his behaviour and had offered a “most sincere apology”, said his solicitor, Eoghan O’Sullivan. After being arrested in Dublin airport, the climate research analyst pleaded guilty to three offences under Ireland’s Air Navigation and Transport Act – intoxication, threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour, and causing annoyance onboard an aircraft.
The court heard that the flight to New York had taken off from Amsterdam in the morning and that during the flight Greear had become “unruly”. He was highly intoxicated and urinated in his seat and in the aisle, an Irish police officer said. The plane had been airborne for two hours and was cruising over Donegal when the captain made the decision to divert, dumping €30,000 worth of fuel before landing.
