Qantas passenger goes berserk mid-flight
A Melbourne businessman has helped to gang-tackle a disorderly passenger in a mid-air drama.
It took five people, including two off-duty Qantas staff, to wrestle the man to the ground after he threatened and attacked a man on flight QF-648 from Perth to Melbourne this morning.
One passenger, Robert Van Stockrom, a Melbourne recruitment consultant, said the drama started at the back of the plane when the man erupted in anger threatening a passenger alongside.
Mr Van Stockrom said he and other passengers intervened in the violent fracas after cabin crew pleaded them for help to subdue the man.
"I was asleep in the front part of the plane, I was woken by some guys arguing standing beside me," he told 7News.
"He kept arguing with another guy in the aisle then he attacked him.
"About four of five of us jumped up and we grabbed hold of him and took him to the ground, and held him there."
At one stage, Mr Van Stockrom said he tried to hold down the man by sitting on him as staff restrained him with cable ties.
"He was yelling out all sorts of weird stuff, stuff about God," he added.
"I can't quote exactly what he was saying, but it was scary, some sort of religious stuff.
"It was upsetting for most people near the incident, it was quite a violent incident."
Staff moved the man to the front of the plane where he eventually calmed down.
A Qantas spokesman said Australian Federal Police boarded the plane when it landed safely at 6am and removed the man.
