'We shouldn't have taken off in the first place': 'Uncontrollable' man who had to be restrained as he forced a plane to make an emergency landing in Sydney 'was knocking back beers at the airport bar before take-off'
- Flight was forced to make emergency landing after passenger became violent
- Man can be seen embroiled in punch-up with others on the flight to Singapore
- The commotion caused the pilot to terminate the flight early, diverted to Sydney
A drunk passenger who started a mid-air brawl on a flight from Australia to Singapore was knocking back beers in the terminal and should never have been allowed on board, other passengers have claimed.
Scoot Flight TR7 was just over an hour into its eight-hour journey from the Gold Coast on Monday morning when a fight broke out.
The passenger had to be tackled by several 'burly blokes' and restrained with cable ties supplied by crew while the plane made an emergency landing in Sydney.
Rico Garilli, who filmed the fight, said the man was 'way too drunk' before the flight and should never have been allowed on the plane.
Rico Garilli (pictured with his fiancee), who filmed the fight, said the man was 'way too drunk' before the flight and should never have been allowed on the plane
He told Sunrise: 'We were sitting next to him at the bar while the flight was delayed and he was putting them down.
'Before we'd even taken off he was standing up and staff couldn't control him. We probably shouldn't have taken off in the first place.
'He was prety incoherent - he was slurring his words. It was so surprising they let him on the flight - from the get-go you could tell he was just way too drunk.'
Mr Garilli, who was travelling via Singapore to Thailand with his fiancee for their wedding, said there was no real cause of the fight.
Passengers tied up the man with cable ties
'He was just out for a fight really... just provoking people for no reason.'
He said the crew didn't know what to do because the man was too big to restrained but said: 'Thankfully we did have the bigger blokes on the plane who were able to take him down rather successfully.'
Mr Garilli said at one point the man calmed down and other passengers let him go.
But then he suddenly pushed one of the crew, took his shirt off and 'went for a run until he got taken down again'.
'He was held down by the passengers for three hours - all the crew could do was provide cable ties,' Mr Garilli said.
'Some of the passengers showed amazing resilience, hats off to them.'
The rowdy man had begun drinking heavily after he discovered the flight was delayed, one witness claimed in a clip posted to Facebook.
Another passenger, only named as Billy, helped restrain the man.
He told Kiss FM: 'I woke up and saw a big crowd of people so I got up walked down the back of the plane.
'The man was punching everyone and pushing people - he elbowed some young kid in the head.
'I jumped on him, we held him down, he was going crazy.'
Billy added: 'The airline just didn't care - they were serving food while we were holding him down and zip-tying him.
'I gave him a tickle when he was hog-tied. He was wriggling like a worm - it took five of us to hold him down. We held him until the feds came along.'
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Footage from the flight shows the moment the fight broke out as passengers watched in horror.
The man partially stripped off his clothes before being tackled to the floor after a series of punches were thrown.
According to the passenger on Facebook, the man's attitude turned aggressive roughly 20 minutes into the flight.
He was restrained by passengers and staff as the plane made its descent.
The shocking moment a drunk passenger on a Scoot flight became embroiled in a violent altercation has been caught on camera
The commotion on the Gold Coast flight bound for Singapore forced the plane to cut its journey short
The rowdy man had begun drinking heavily after he discovered the flight was delayed, one witness claimed in a clip posted to Facebook
The plane was diverted to Sydney, where the man was met by the Australian Federal Police and paramedics.
The other passengers were transferred to other flights to Singapore.
A spokeswoman for the airline said the plane was diverted to Sydney for the safety and convenience of those on board.
'It's a bigger airport, they have bigger handling facilities because they were trying to get everyone off the plane quickly,' she told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
'They were sent to Sydney just to make everything faster for the passengers.'
No charges have been laid.
The man partially stripped off his clothes before eventually being tackled to the ground (pictured)
Scoot Flight TR7 was just over an hour into its eight-hour journey when the out-of-control passenger became involved in a violent mid-air incident
The plane was diverted to Sydney, where the man was met by the Australian Federal Police and paramedics
- 7 News Sydney on Twitter: "BREAKING: A man on board a Scoot flight from the Gold Coast to Singapore had to be restrained by passengers and staff after he became involved in an altercation around 20 minutes into the flight. Due to the drama in th ...
- Sunrise on Twitter: "“Staff couldn’t control him… we probably shouldn’t have taken off in the first place” — a passenger onboard a flight from Gold Coast to Singapore which was forced to turn around after a ma ...
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