Robert McDonald, a 60-year-old Scottish man, faces a year in prison after acting out every delayed passenger's fantasy aboard a grounded Delta flight Sunday night. The plane had been stalled on the taxiway for two and a half hours due to inclement weather (after a layover between Edinburgh and Vegas), and it seems all that waiting put the zap on old McDonald's head. At some point around 7:45 p.m., he snapped and allegedly tried to make a break for it by popping open the emergency exit!
That kind of bad-ass behavior may fly in the Highlands, but not here in the US of A, Mr. Robbie McDonald. (Here we grind our teeth and file lawsuits when Delta screws us over.) The flight crew managed to subdue McDonald before he could activate the emergency chute and slide down to freedom on the JFK runways. His wife was with him too, and one can imagine the couple living happily as fugitives in the wilds of Jamaica Bay. But it was not to be; Port Authority police took him into custody, and he's charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and second degree criminal tampering.
The charges [pdf] could get McDonald up to a year in jail if convicted. Lucky for him, he landed judge Mary O’Donohue, who released him on his own recognizance. Meanwhile, the plane was taken out of service, the passengers were booked on the next flight, and Delta may have to replace the plane’s emergency chute (which must not be Scottish).
