An Irishman was fined £300 (€381) today for threatening to "rip the head off" a pilot who told him to stop using his mobile phone during a flight.
Property consultant Mr Brian Pepper, originally from Dundalk, Co Louth, but now living in Manchester, also raised his fist to the captain of an Aer Lingus flight between Manchester to Dublin.
Mr Pepper, (27) of Britannia Road, Sale, told Dublin's District Court that his behaviour on the flight in February last year had been due to stress.
He said two matters had been preying on his mind at the time - the conclusion of a court case where he was the victim of an assault and the pressure of supporting his sick father.
He was convicted of the using threatening and abusive behaviour by the same court in his absence earlier this month. Sentencing was adjourned until today to give Pepper another opportunity to appear.
District Court judge Justice Conal Gibbons said Mr Pepper had behaved in "an arrogant and extraordinary way".
He was asked by an air steward to turn off his mobile phone soon after the plane left Manchester.
He did not do so immediately and when asked again, replied: "I am just sending a text message."
Captain Aengus O Fearghail persuaded Mr Pepper to switch off the phone, but then it was noticed that he was using a laptop computer and he had to be asked to turn that off too.
When the flight arrived in Dublin, Captain O Fearghail saw that Mr Pepper was once more on the phone and said to him: "I don't believe it. Are you using that phone again?"
Mr Pepper then raised his fist towards the officer and said: "I will do something I might regret. I will rip your head off."
At the request of the judge, Mr Pepper apologised to Captain O Fearghail and said he had also sent a letter of apology to the pilot.
The judge, who had been considering a jail term because of Mr Pepper's failure to appear at the previous hearing, told him his actions had been "amazing", especially as he himself had been the victim of an attack.
And he added: "He was higher than the plane was with anger."
PA