A Virgin Australia flight from Melbourne to Perth was forced to divert to Adelaide after a passenger threatened to kill people earlier this month. VA697 was less than 2 hours into it’s journey when it was forced to divert to Adelaide Airport due to a female passenger screaming “Get me off this f^^^^^g plane, don’t f^^^^^g come near me, I can’t breathe”. Virgin Australia cabin crew tried to contain the situation however the woman threatened to “kill everyone onboard”, one passenger noted that she’d “gone nuts”, another noted that she was experiencing “some mental illness”.
The captain of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft made the decision to divert to the South Australian capital and the aircraft touched down in Adelaide just after 10:20 pm local time. At the gate, Australian Federal Police officers forcibly removed the woman from the aircraft and she is “assisting police with enquires” yet the AFP were quick to note that no charges had been laid. Her luggage was removed and thoroughly inspected before the 737 refueled and took off for Perth around 1 am local time. The flight landed 4 hours late in Perth at 3:10 am local time. Adelaide Airport technically has a curfew starting at 10:30 pm and ending at 6 am however a special exception was made.
VH-VUU, the aircraft involved, landing at Sydney Airport photo credit
