Man faces 20 years for disrupting flight
Ontario man pleads guilty in Florida court
An Ontario man who pleaded guilty in a case involving a dramatic disturbance on an Air Canada flight is now facing the prospect of up to two decades behind bars.
Brandon Courneyea’s admission of interference with a flight attendant, entered last month in an Orlando, Fla., courtroom, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.
The charge related to Courneyea’s conduct on an Air Canada flight bringing him home from a brief vacation in Jamaica in May.
“Defendant is pleading guilty because defendant is in fact guilty,” reads the plea agreement filed in the case. “Were this case to go to trial, the United States would be able to prove those specific facts and others beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Courneyea’s troubles began May 15 before boarding the flight from Montego Bay to Toronto.
His wife previously told The Canadian Press her husband took a vacation at her urging, but moved up his return flight after allegedly receiving death threats.
According to court documents, Courneyea took an undisclosed quantity of cocaine before getting on the plane. Once on board, his plea agreement shows he began disrupting the flight.
The document said Courneyea yelled at people for looking at him, threw paper at a fellow passenger, and moved erratically through the plane without shoes on.
When flight crew tried to get him to return to his seat, the document said he went to the back of the plane and began swinging a hot coffee pot at passengers and crew.
Courneyea then tried to open the aircraft cabin door, saying “it would only take one guy to take the plane down and that he wanted to take everyone with him,” his plea agreement states.
Courneyea then seized another full coffee pot and went after staff before passengers and crew subdued him and bound him to his seat using zip ties, court documents said.
The flight was diverted to Orlando, where Courneyea was arrested. Courneyea’s sentencing is set for Sept. 11.