Past plane diversions to BIA

Aug. 5, 1998 – Continental Airlines Flight 55 from Paris to Newark, N.J., was diverted when Santiago Diaz, 20, of San Diego disrupted the flight. Diaz signed an agreement in U.S. District Court in Bangor that dismissed charges of interfering with a flight crew, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor. Authorities attributed the incident to a mental or physical ailment and agreed to drop charges because of Diaz’s relatively clean record.

May 3, 1999 – Bryan Neal, 25, of England kicked out the interior part of a plane window during a drunken rampage on a flight heading to Great Britain from Orlando, Fla. Neal was ordered to pay $25,875 to Airtours International for damage and sentenced to 60 days in jail. In addition, he served a seven-day sentence on a state charge for resisting arrest once the aircraft touched down in Bangor.

June 5, 1999 – Christopher James Bayes, 42, of Manchester, England, disrupted Delta Air Lines Flight 63 from Atlanta to Manchester, England, when he became abusive to members of the flight crew. Bayes has not yet served his six-month prison sentence and was indicted again in August 2000, on charges of failure to appear for service of sentence.

May 24, 2000 – A 38-year-old Moroccan man, Driss Ghandi, caused a United Airlines flight heading for London from Newark, N.J., to be diverted. Ghandi was charged with a felony count of interference with a flight crew and five misdemeanor counts of assault for confrontations that began just after the flight departed Newark. Ghandi was sentenced to three months in jail.

October 12, 2000 – Jorgen Emil Kragh, 58, of Denmark assaulted an elderly woman by kicking and hitting the back of her seat on American Airlines Flight 67, London to Chicago, causing a landing in Bangor. Kragh was sentenced to 21 days in jail and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

December 25, 2000 – Robert Fritz, 29, caused a midair ruckus, forcing Delta Boeing Flight 67, from Amsterdam to Atlanta, to be diverted to Bangor. He was sentenced to 21 days in jail for the incident, in which he jabbed a relief pilot with his finger and shoved a male flight attendant after becoming belligerent.

May 18, 2001 – Kevin Sibley, 34, of Northampton, England, assaulted his girlfriend on a Britannia Airways flight to Cancun, Mexico, causing the plane to land in Bangor. Sibley was sentenced to three days in Penobscot County Jail and ordered to pay $800 in fines on charges of drug possession and failure to submit to arrest.

John Ward and Robert Doherty, both of England, caused the diversion of a British Airways flight en route to Mexico City from England. The two men drank alcohol of their own on the plane, against the flight crew’s wishes. Bangor police charged them with disorderly conduct stemming from their conduct on the ground. No federal charges were brought against the men.

October 20, 2001 – Christopher Gavan of England was found guilty of interfering with a flight crew on an overseas Continental Airlines flight from Paris to Houston. Gavan was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay $18,508 to Continental Airlines. This was the first “air rage” arrest at Bangor International Airport after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.