Fired RIM Execs 'Chewed Through Restraints' In Flight

First Posted: 12/09/11 08:33 PM ET Updated: 12/13/11 02:35 AM ET

Air Canada

New details are emerging about the rowdy behaviour of two Research In Motion executives who were fired for disrupting a transcontinental flight -- including that they managed to chew their way out of restraints and wound up being subdued by other passengers until the plane landed.


George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, each pleaded guilty to mischief for disrupting a Nov. 30 flight from Toronto to Beijing.


The plane landed instead in Vancouver, where a court later ordered them to pay $72,000 in restitution. They also received suspended sentences and were placed on parole for a year.


RIM fired both men after investigating what happened, but little information has been made public about what was so disruptive about their behaviour.


However, court documents obtained by CBC News paint a very chaotic picture.


The pair seemed heavily intoxicated from the start of the flight, according to one passenger. They drank, passed out, and woke up to continue consuming alcohol and yelling at one another.


Campbell was described as a "rowdy and abusive" passenger who at one point warned that he would "off people when they left the plane," according to the Crown prosecutor.


One of the men also "assaulted a flight attendant and threatened to punch another," the prosecution said in court.


Crew members tried repeatedly to subdue the pair, but they kept struggling to get free, "verbally abusing" people on board and eventually "chewed their way through their restraints."


Diverted to closer airport


As the situation escalated, the pilots decided to divert the plane to Anchorage. But the situation become so dire that they opted for the Vancouver airport, which was closer.


During the final 80 minutes of the flight, "several flight attendants and a couple of passengers" restrained the two men and the crew initiated a "lockdown situation" so that no one was allowed to leave their seats.


The prosecutor in the case called Campbell and Wilson's conduct "way over the top."


"The repercussions for the company as well as every single person on the plane, both financially and perhaps even emotionally, are going to be huge."


Air Canada pegged its losses for diverting the flight at nearly $200,000 and RIM issued a statement saying that the conduct did not fit with the company's "standards of business behaviour."


The two men were on a week-long business trip for the BlackBerry maker, but they were arrested after the flight landed in Vancouver.


Both men live near Waterloo, Ont., where RIM is headquartered.


Campbell refused to comment on the incident when reached by phone on Friday. Air Canada issued a statement but would not answer questions about the case.


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New details are emerging about the rowdy behaviour of two Research In Motion executives who were fired for disrupting a transcontinental flight -- including that they managed to chew their...
New details are emerging about the rowdy behaviour of two Research In Motion executives who were fired for disrupting a transcontinental flight -- including that they managed to chew their...
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BannedInBoston
Everyone is entitled to my opinion.
10:48 PM on 12/12/2011
When I was flying United back from Dallas to Manchester, NH, via Chicago, the most obese human being (male) I've seen recently got on the flight. I chuckled to myself wondering how they were going to wedge him in but they actually managed -- in a single seat across the row from mine, naturally. I was feeling for the couple in the two seats next to him (and thankful I'd traded with one of them!) when the flight attendant managed to arrange matters so that there were two empty seats together in the row just in front. "Sir, I think you'll be more comfortable if you move up here," she said -- and he did and was (I assume). Score points for United....
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ycplum
Against Stupidity, the Gods themselves try in Vain
03:31 PM on 12/12/2011
"So, I guess a favorable recommendation letter is out of the question?"
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acarioti
Al Carioti lives in Orlando, Flo
07:47 AM on 12/12/2011
I thought I misread the headline! This is nuts!
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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09:51 PM on 12/11/2011
I have a suggestion, along with everything else they put you thru these days they might as well give you a breathalyzer test. If you are too drunk to pass the test you don't get to fly.
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Guy Incognito
Canadian. Sorry.
05:57 PM on 12/11/2011
I have had it UP TO HERE with these muther-luvin' drunks on this muther-luvin' plane!!

(you know the original wouldn't make it past the mods...)
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
portugee565
05:55 PM on 12/11/2011
Chewed through their restraints? Cancel their Dental Ins. Let their teeth fall out. Stupid fools that they are!
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Karissa36
Saving lost boys and fighting pirates.
04:09 PM on 12/11/2011
These two got off easy. I can't believe one of the passengers didn't get up and punch their lights out. That being said, restraints are more effective if the wrists are tied behind the back.
-swift
Can you put your country before your party?
11:09 AM on 12/14/2011
I don't know. On a long flight, I like some entertainment.
08:26 AM on 12/11/2011
I find it really unlikely that only alcohol was involved when two people completely lost their minds in the same way at the same time.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tracee Collins
APATHY = COMPLICITY
02:29 PM on 12/11/2011
Why not? alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs known to man. Many, MANY people have a hard time handling it.
Al Schrader
Don't limit your potential
07:00 AM on 12/11/2011
Alcohol and planes = disaster movie.
09:02 PM on 12/10/2011
Were they crazy??? Were they plastered when Air Canada let them on the plane (Air Canada shouldn't let drunks on a plane). If they weren’t plastered when they got on than they got plastered on the plane – who served them the booze?

If not plastered – they therefore must have been on drugs or crazy - I think they were probably high on cocaine or something else and had a couple of drinks on the plane. They were probably seeing snakes or something. Remember the movie Snakes of a Plane. I’d luv to hear what they were talking about. Apparently they were tied up. Where did they put them so that they could bite through their restraints without being seen while they were doing so? Did they put them in the overhead luggage racks or cover them up with blankets. If I have some guy tied up and he starts to bite through the restraints I would probably have to take out his teeth if he continued. These guys lived in Ont. And were flying to China on a Wednesday – no doubt to work in China for a little bit – they get this messed up on a Wed. on the way to a job. I can sort of see on Friday coming home. Therefore “crazy”. I think what we have here is a couple of crazy druggies who can’t handle a couple of drinks. They are lucky they never got to China. Chop Chop
YOKEL13
Earth may be spherical, but the galaxy is flat
08:26 PM on 12/10/2011
...were fired for disrupting a transcontinental flight -- including that they managed to chew their way out of restraints...

Things might have gone easier had they been fed.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
tiptop3
Microbio-birthschoolworkdeath
07:13 PM on 12/10/2011
put them both on the no-fly list
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PhloxJeana
Never baptize a cat.
09:13 PM on 12/10/2011
That's what happens if you have to be removed from a flight.
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Blodo
Time to build a better world
05:57 PM on 12/10/2011
So what about the careful psychological profiling that RIM - as a major corporation - undoubtedly conducts automatically as part of its HR interview policy for each new hire? Our do they just take guys out drinking and hire them if they can down a twelve pack without honking? Small wonder the company is in a death spiral to the bottom.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Stressedtothebone
Fatalist and cynic
04:22 PM on 12/10/2011
"The pair seemed heavily intoxicated from the start of the flight, according to one passenger. They drank, passed out, and woke up to continue consuming alcohol and yelling at one another."

Who gave them the alcohol? If they turned up at the airport drunk, then they should have never been let on the plane. From the article, it sounds like they were drinking on the plane, how could that have been allowed? If they were served alcohol by the flight attendants or while they were at the airport waiting on their flight, I say blame the airline and TSA.

People obviously intoxicate should not be allowed on flights.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PhloxJeana
Never baptize a cat.
09:16 PM on 12/10/2011
The guys should've been fired, but the airline should have to eat the cost. First, the intoxicated passengers shouldn't have been allowed to board. Secondly, they shouldn't have been served on board. Airlines sell alcohol to generate revenue. They rolled the dice and this time they lost.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
02:23 PM on 12/10/2011
c0caine.
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GeneralDisarray
Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People ...
02:51 PM on 12/10/2011
Doubt it
" They drank, passed out,......"