Hero of rage at 37,000ft
Published: January 20, 2006
A HEROIC Sheffield holidaymaker told today how he helped restrain a drunken passenger who threatened to kill everyone on board a transatlantic flight.
Brave plasterer Dean Rawlings, aged 43, was among eight people who jumped on Rafal Krawczyk and restrained him at 37,000ft while the pilot diverted the plane from Mexico to make an emergency landing in Florida.
Mr Rawlings was flying home from holiday in the Mexican resort of Cancun with girlfriend Emily Wake.
He said: “He had broken the toilet door and was trying to open the main door of the aircraft. He said he was going to kill everybody. I think the adrenalin just took over and we all jumped on him.
“He was obscenely strong. He had the physical stature of a bear. It took eight of us to hold him down.”
The man was arrested at Sanford Airport, Orlando, by armed FBI agents. Mr Rawlings of Granville Road, Norfolk Park, Sheffield, said trouble flared when the man started drinking his duty free alcohol.
He said: “About an hour into the flight this guy started walking up and down the aisles. He wasn’t being aggressive, just annoying. He was tapping people on the head.
“He was a big guy, about 6ft 4ins and he looked like he was a bit mad. He had dark, evil eyes.”
There was a fracas when a passenger complained to the cabin service director on the Thomsonfly plane.
Dad-of-one Mr Rawlings said: “A steward asked him to sit down. He swore and said ‘I’m not doing anything you tell me’.
“He refused to sit down again, pushed the steward in the chest and he went flying.”
Mr Rawlings and three other passengers - including two off-duty police officers from Leeds - jumped up and restrained him.
“We grabbed hold of him and sat him down. He was screaming and bellowing then said he was going to open the door and kill everybody so we just looked at each other and piled on top of him,” said Mr Rawlings.
All 232 passengers from flight BY437B spent the night in a hotel before continuing their journey home.
An FBI spokesman said Mr Krawczyk, aged 32 and from Belfast, had been charged with “interfering with a flight crew”.
The couple arrived home in Sheffield on Monday and Mr Rawlings said: “It didn’t really hit me until I got home and saw my daughter. She was upset and I felt a bit shaken up when I thought about what could have happened.”
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