A man whose behaviour on board forced a jet to make an unscheduled stop in Shannon was sentenced to four months' imprisonment by Judge Albert O'Dea at Kilrush District Court yesterday.
The man was arrested on Saturday morning when an American Airlines jet flying direct from Boston to London Gatwick with 130 passengers was forced to land at the airport.
Geoffrey Paul Street (32) of Wellsfield, Huntingdon, Cambridge, an unemployed plasterer, was charged with threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour on board an aircraft in flight.
The defendant apologised in court for his behaviour, and said he had drunk a lot to calm his fear of flying. When he was refused more drink he went to the toilet for a cigarette, and because he was drunk he fell asleep and fell off the toilet seat.
He apologised to the airline staff.
Street, who had been in custody since Saturday, thanked the gardai "for treating me so gentlemanly".
Judge O'Dea fixed a surety of £10,000 in cash in the event of an appeal.