BANGOR – Unruly passengers prompted two separate international flights from England to divert to Bangor International Airport Friday afternoon, landing three men in jail.

The two flights landed about three hours apart at BIA. The earliest, a Boeing 767 Britannia Airways flight headed to Cancun, Mexico, with 277 passengers on board, landed shortly before noon. It was grounded for the night Friday because the crew had reached its work limit on flight time.

The second, a 747 British Airways flight carrying 174 passengers headed to Mexico City, landed about 3:15 p.m. and was back in the air shortly after 5 p.m.

Three men, all from England, were arrested by Bangor police.

Authorities first were notified of problems aboard the Britannia flight from Manchester, England, when it was over Newfoundland, about 500 miles from Bangor, reported Sgt. D. Ward Gagner. An out-of-control passenger was on board and the crew and passengers had been restraining him for about two hours.

According to police, 34-year-old Kevin Sibley of North Hampton, England, had been drinking from his own liquor bottle during the flight and assaulted his girlfriend during an argument. Sibley also began pushing others on board and spit on passengers when they intervened, according to police.

When the plane landed, Gagner found five men sitting on Sibley, three of them off-duty police officers from England who happened to be on board. In the tight confines of the cabin, it took seven people, including several Bangor police officers, to escort Sibley off the plane, as he continued to be belligerent and struggled with police, Gagner said. Authorities strapped Sibley on a Bangor Fire Department stretcher and took him to Eastern Maine Medical Center where he was treated for injuries suffered during the struggle, including a bloody mouth.

In addition to being charged with disorderly conduct stemming from his behavior on the Britannia flight, Sibley was charged with failure to submit to arrest, possession of Ecstasy and possession of hashish. Gagner said the illegal substances were found on Sibley while he was at the hospital and at the jail.

Bail was set at $1,500 cash. Gagner said late Friday night that he had been told money was going to be wired to free Sibley, although it appeared Sibley may have other hurdles to clear with federal immigration officials before he would be allowed to leave.

His fellow passengers were expected to leave for Mexico on Saturday after spending the night in motels and hotels as far away as Mount Desert Island. Bangor facilities were booked for graduation ceremonies, a concert, a convention and high-stakes bingo among other events scheduled in the area this weekend.

Also arrested were John Ward, 55, and Robert Doherty, 38, both of England, who were charged with disorderly conduct stemming from their behavior on the British Airways flight. They were being held at the jail on cash bails of $150 each.

Gagner said both men had been drinking their own alcohol on the flight from England against the wishes of the flight crew. They became disruptive and refused to cooperate with the crew, who were trying to quiet them down, according to police. The two men assaulted flight attendants, grabbing their ties and shoving them.

Ward and Doherty quieted down when they saw the Bangor police officers approaching them, Gagner said.

Gagner had high praise for the actions of the crew and the passengers. He said that in close quarters flying at 37,000 feet, passengers like the off-duty police officers decided to take it upon themselves to help.

“Someone had to step forward,” Gagner said. “These people deserve a lot of credit.”

While air-rage plane diversions to BIA are not uncommon, Friday’s back-to-back diversions were unusual in that most of the cases occur a month or more apart, not hours apart, said Assistant Airport Director Rebecca Hupp.

Hupp said once flights are diverted to BIA, the airport works to get the flight back in the air as quickly as possible. She noted that during the down time police need to conduct their investigations, interviewing passengers and flight crews. Meanwhile the flights are refueled in preparation for takeoff.

“Generally we try to turn it in an hour to 90 minutes,” she said.

Friday’s incidents mark at least nine diversions to Bangor to off-load rowdy airline passengers since May 1999. All resulted in arrests. On May 1 of this year, a man from Leeds, England, was arrested for creating a disturbance on a flight that had stopped at BIA to refuel.

BIA is a common destination for problem passengers on international flights because of its location at the northeast point of the country and because it is not as busy as larger airports on the East Coast, according to a recent report in the Atlantic Monthly. The airport receives fees from landing planes that vary with the services required. Bangor police and other local officials are experienced at handling air rage incidents.