Prosecutors say the 29-year-old tried to open the cockpit door and struck a flight attendant who tried to stop him. Photo / Jeff Chiu, AP
A 29-year-old man who struck a flight attendant and tried to open the cockpit door during a flight to Florida has pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew and could face time in prison.
Prosecutors said Thursday that passengers noticed that Kameron C. Stone of Fairfax, Virginia, smelled strongly
of alcohol, refused to stay in his seat, and pretended to shoot a gun at passengers during a United Airlines flight from Dulles airport in Virginia to Pensacola, Florida, last April.
As the plane began to descend for landing, Stone tried to open the cabin and cockpit doors. When a flight attendant attempted to stop him, Stone grabbed her shoulders and shoved her into a wall, bruising her chest, face, arm and shoulder, according to court documents.
Three passengers, including an off-duty federal marshal, restrained Stone, and three mini-bottles of vodka fell from his pocket during the tussle, according to prosecutors. Police met the plane when it landed.
Sentencing was scheduled for April 28 in federal district court in Pensacola. The maximum sentence for interfering with a flight crew is 20 years, and Stone also pleaded guilty to assault in an aircraft, which carries a one-year maximum sentence. He could get less under federal guidelines, however, and both sides said they couldn't predict the sentence.
