A man could face up to 20 years in prison after pushing a flight attendant and trying to storm the cockpit during a flight last year.
The 29-year-old, who was believed to have been drinking prior to the incident, was travelling on a United Airlines service from Dulles airport in Virginia to Pensacola, Florida, in April 2021.
Kameron C. Stone refused to stay in his seat as the aircraft began its descent, pretending to shoot an imaginary gun at other passengers, prosecutors said on 10 February.
He tried to open both the plane cabin and cockpit doors, shoving a flight attendant against the wall when she tried to stop him.
She sustained bruising to her chest, face, arm and shoulder, according to court documents.
Eventually three passengers, including an off-duty federal marshal, managed to restrain Stone.
They claimed he smelt strongly of alcohol, a suspicion that was backed up by several miniature bottles of vodka falling out of the passenger’s pockets during the struggle.
Police met the jet when it landed and escorted Stone off.
Last week he pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew and to assault in an aircraft.
The former carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment, while the latter has a maximum prison sentence of a year.
Sentencing is scheduled for 28 April in federal district court in Pensacola.
Instances of unruly passenger behaviour have risen dramatically during the pandemic.
Last week, a flight from New York to Orlando was forced to make an emergency landing after a passenger allegedly threatened to kill everyone onboard.
Fellow passengers told reporters that the unidentified man had become agitated on the Frontier flight on 9 February, shouting that the woman behind him was trying to “steal his DNA” with a syringe.
One person from the flight told ABC11 that the man had threatened a baby and shouted that he would kill everyone onboard.
Video filmed by someone seated nearby and posted to Twitter shows six male passengers restraining the disruptive man.
