Erickson Alfonso Morales was on the way to Sydney Airport when he started getting angry.
He argued with his mother and father as they drove him to catch an Air New Zealand flight to Los Angeles, bought a bottle of wine at the airport and then had another argument with airport officials over a problem with his Guatemalan passport.
Before Morales boarded the flight, he took one tablet of the anti-depressant Cipramil and a tablet of Endromil for his blood pressure - which he claimed his doctor had switched him to because it would not have a negative reaction with alcohol.
Statements by crew and passengers on the flight, released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, detail the ensuing events.
Air New Zealand flight attendant Sarah Parker first noticed the 30-year-old before departure, when he asked her to open a bottle of wine that he had brought with him.
She refused, telling him that he would be served wine once the flight was in the air.
Another flight attendant, Catherine Greening, then saw Morales sitting in his seat with the bottle of wine on the tray table.
Ms Greening approached him and said he was not allowed to drink his own alcohol on an Air New Zealand flight.
Three hours into the flight, Morales approached Ms Greening and asked where the restroom was.
As she told him, Morales began to stroke her arm and shoulder. Ms Greening politely asked him not to touch her, but he ignored her.
She said Morales was clearly drunk and standing right in front of her as he refused to stop touching her body.
Ms Greening said she had served him two glasses of wine.
Another flight attendant, Camilla Forsling, was in the plane's galley when Morales walked in and demanded more wine.
She said he was drunk, and she suggested he have water instead.
Morales then came closer and began to touch Ms Forsling's hands and stroked her face and neck. Ms Forsling said she backed away and told him to stop. Another attendant offered him a glass of water.
Morales refused, and became agitated as Ms Forsling unsuccessfully tried to calm him.
He became aggressive, swearing and yelling obscenities before returning to his seat, where he smashed a nearby woman passenger's meal tray, spilling wine on her.
Ms Forsling said she had served him three to four single-serving-sized bottles of wine early in the flight.
Sarah Parker said that on the flight Morales was sitting right outside the galley area, and every time she walked out he would grab her hand and stroke it. She had served him two glasses of wine.
Ms Parker firmly told him never to touch her or anyone else again, but Morales stared her down and forcefully poked at her chest with his finger, yelling obscenities at her.
A woman passenger, J. C. Milner, said she was talking to other passengers outside the toilets when Morales arrived and said he was going into the toilet to have a cigarette, and that he smoked "50 Marlboros a day."
Ms Milner and the other passengers told Morales he was not allowed to smoke on the plane, and offered him some nicorette chewing gum, which he refused.
She said Morales told her that he was going to Guatemala and that the United States had oppressed his country. He said he was going there because of the "revolution" and said he might have to kill some Americans, and that they might shoot him in the process.
Morales said this was the price he would have to pay.
Ms Milner began to feel afraid, but as she tried to return to her seat, Morales pinned her arms against the wall.
She said she caught the eye of a male flight attendant, who, seeing she was in distress, approached and told Morales: "This lady would like to return to her seat."
Morales put his arms down and let her leave.
In-flight service coordinator Douglas Grant, who had also told Morales he could not drink his own bottle of wine on board and had watched him drink at a fast rate, said he had told him he would not be served alcohol after Ms Greening told him he had continued to touch her.
Mr Grant and the in-flight service director, Richard Ross, then decided that Morales needed to be restrained in handcuffs to prevent any further touching and violence.
The flight captain agreed, and First Officer Stephen Chilcott and another officer came to the back of the plane with handcuffs.
Morales stood up in front of Mr Grant and began punching the walls of the plane, before kicking and throwing wild punches.
Morales reached out and punched Mr Chilcott in the shoulder and kicked him in the groin.
A passenger helped to bring Morales to the floor of the plane, where his hands were handcuffed behind his back. He was taken to the back of the plane and the other passengers were moved.
After hearing some loud thumping from the cabin where Morales was being restrained, Ms Parker went back to look and said he was poking his tongue out and wiggling it at women passengers and attendants, yelling abuse.
Mr Grant said each time a female crew member went by Morales said, "I want to have sex with you."
Mr Ross said Morales tried to trip crew members as they walked past and was particularly abusive to Americans on board.
He told Mr Ross: "I am going to get you, you bastard!"
Morales also told Mr Grant he would hunt him down and kill him.
Mr Chilcott had a doctor on board check Morales' hands, and he did not complain of any injuries. He began to sober up about three hours before landing, and ate biscuits and tea the flight attendants gave him.
When the plane landed at Los Angeles he was arrested by FBI agents, Federal Aviation Administration staff and airport police.
He was charged with interference with a flight crew or attendants, specifically interfering and intimidating both the flight crew and attendants, and affecting the safety and well-being of passengers.
Special Agent Kevin Hogg interviewed Morales after advising him of his US constitutional rights.
Morales told Special Agent Hogg that he had not drunk alcohol for the two weeks before his family drove him to Sydney airport.
Morales said he had been diagnosed four or five years before as having bipolar disorder.
He said that he was frustrated with his life, family and girlfriend, and that once on the plane wanted his bottle of wine opened. He remembered a flight attendant refusing to do it.
Morales said he had had at least five servings of wine before losing count of how much he had drunk.
He could remember nothing about the flight after that until he felt the pain of being handcuffed in the back of the plane.
Alcohol fuelled mid-air terror
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.