A JET2 flight from Stansted was intercepted by an RAF fighter jet as a passenger “rushed the cockpit” sparked fears of a terror hijacking.
The flight from Stansted to Dalaman, Turkey was grounded following reports of a loud explosion, which later turned out to be a sonic boom from a Typhoon jet breaking the sound barrier.
Terrified passengers told The Sun Online how a woman in her 20s tried to “rush the cockpit”.
Amy Varol, who sat two rows behind the woman, said: “I was on a flight to Dalaman from Stansted after 45 mins of being in the air and this lady who was clearly intoxicated gets called to the front of the plane and she starts shouting and screaming and runs to the airplane door.
“The cabin crew grabbed her to stop she starts scratching them hitting them, she then got pinned to the floor by cabin crew and passengers, a passenger even sat on her!
“She kept getting up and running back towards the door, she had six people sitting her we had to fly back to Stansted for the police to get her.
“She kept singing songs and screaming she’s gonna kill us, ‘I want to get off’, ‘I’m gonna f****** hit you’ ‘f***** come on then'”.
Ms Varol added: “I was terrified there’s nothing you can do, you can’t escape.”
Steward Brown, who was sat six rows behind the disruptive passenger, said a woman in her early 20s started to irritate passengers as soon as they took off.
The 36-year-old Mobile DJ said: “The air stewards did their best to calm her down.
“She seemed absolutely fine before take off but then strangely very drunk or drugged as we took off.
“The stewards gave her several chances and did the best they could before she became abusive and then made a dash for the cockpit and had to be restrained by staff and passengers. We had to turn round and police removed her off the plane.”
Mr Brown, from Deal, Kent, added the woman attacked attacked staff.
He said: “She was restrained at the front of the plane when she tried to enter the cockpit.
“Several restrained her. At least three but I couldn’t see the exact amount. She hit the stewards and was quickly restrained. She was abusive to passengers when people told her to behave and remain seated.”
A Jet 2spokesperson 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.”
The bang was heard as far as 18 miles away in Chelmsford, Essex.
All airport operations are running as normal.
Many took to Twitter to say they felt the sonic boom as their windows and tellys started shaking.
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