A court was told yesterday that a man was "like a time-bomb" and threw punches and lashed out at passengers on board a flight to Shannon last weekend.
At Ennis District Court yesterday, Judge Joseph Mangan jailed Polish man Szczepan Drzewiecki (38) for one month and fined him €500 after he pleaded guilty to three "air rage" offences.
Insp Tom Kennedy told the court that what occurred on the Centralwings Warsaw-Shannon flight last Friday "was above and beyond anything I would have dealt with in similar cases".
Insp Kennedy said that in such cases when three charges are brought and there is a plea of guilty, the State would withdraw one of the charges, but because of the seriousness of the case, the State would not be doing that on this occasion.
Drzewiecki pleaded guilty to being intoxicated on the aircraft, engaging in abusive behaviour and failing to cease abusive behaviour, contrary to the Air Navigation and Transport Act.
The court heard from passenger Seán Morgan, who said Drzewiecki "completely lost the plot, he was punching and kicking at the window".
"He was like a time-bomb that exploded by punching and lashing out at passengers. He flipped. I got him off one passenger, restrained him and put him back into his seat, but he exploded again."
The court was told Drzewiecki had consumed the contents of a litre bottle of vodka he had brought on board in a rucksack.
Drzewiecki's solicitor, William Cahir, told the court his client had never been on a flight before and was leaving his wife and three children to come to Ireland to work in construction to provide for them.
He said: "All he had with him was €150 and was looking forward to working in construction in Cork.
"He apologises to everyone concerned. He was totally out of order and he has very little recollection of what occurred on the flight."
Mr Cahir added: "He was leaving his family, it was his first time flying and he was probably depressed and anxious. He can't explain what happened."
Judge Mangan jailed Drzewiecki for one month, fined him €500 and ordered that the particulars of the offence be forwarded to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.