By GREGG WYCHERLEY
He is drunk and abusive, hanging out for a cigarette and looking for trouble. Known simply as "Duty Free Man," he is keen to join the mile-high fight club and might be sitting beside you on your next international flight.
The first British study of air rage attacks has found the person most likely to lose the plot mid-flight is a male in his thirties, holidaying with family or friends.
He probably began drinking before boarding and is fuming over a pre-flight incident, such as a lack of trolleys or a security search.
He might assault crew, sexually harass women or attack his fellow passengers.
On landing, he can expect to be arrested and is increasingly likely to face a jail term.
The study, by British Airport Police, examined all incidents of violence and misbehaviour at airports across Britain in an effort to profile typical offenders.
The study found that 75 per cent of incidents involved men, a third involved men aged between 30 and 39 and most offenders were travelling as part of a group.
Superintendent Tim Burgess of the Airport Police said that although alcohol was a contributing factor in many air rage incidents, an individual's predisposition to violence was more significant.
"There are 300 other people on the plane. They all had the same access to alcohol and yet only one of them was aggressively drunk."
Such behaviour was often prompted by a host of factors including delays, the unavailability of trolleys, personal problems, the behaviour of other passengers or even nicotine withdrawal, he said.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Martyn Gosling said no study of air rage profiles had been done in New Zealand, but anecdotal evidence showed similar findings to the British study.
Air rage attacks were often sparked by stress, drunkenness, being cramped up or being barred from smoking, he said.
One of the worst cases - fitting the British profile - was when a drunk Australian passenger kicked an Air New Zealand jumbo-jet pilot in the groin and assaulted eight other people last November.
Two pilots on the Boeing 747-400 wrestled with the 30-year-old Alfonso Morales after he groped hostesses, smashed a food tray, punched the walls of the plane and said he wanted to kill Americans in Guatemala, where he was born.
Morales had allegedly consumed prescription drugs and numerous glasses of wine.
Although cases of air rage are fairly low in New Zealand, in line with the small population, a survey by the International Air Transport Association shows a five-fold increase in air rage in recent years.
In 1994, there were 1132 incidents. In 1997, there were 5416, and even the rich and famous are not immune.
Peter Buck, the guitarist of American rock group R.E.M, was held by police after an alleged air rage incident on a London-bound flight from Seattle.
The multimillionaire was arrested on April 21 after allegedly assaulting cabin crew on a nine-hour flight from the United States.
Police met the 44-year-old star on his arrival at Heathrow after the captain of the British Airways plane alerted authorities about 90 minutes before landing.
In an effort to combat the growing air rage problem, airlines are now pushing to have the International Air Transport Association compile and distribute a global blacklist.
The list would mean a total flying ban among member airlines for anyone convicted of inflight assaults and unruly behaviour, hopefully leaving "Duty Free Man" facing extinction.
When anger flies the friendly skies
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