An Australian man was arrested in Bali following alleged threats to jump out of the plane during an AirAsia flight from Sydney.
But now 25-year-old Dolden Aaron Gerrard claims he was “only joking.”
Gerrard was told to sit down multiple times by the flight’s crew, but he kept refusing, according to Denpasar Airport Authority investigator Ade Yuliana.
“But instead he stood and yelled, ‘I will be the first person to jump from the plane right now’…. That created panic among passengers,” AAP quoted Yuliana as saying on Friday.
Even if he really didn’t mean it, Yuliana said that this kind of behavior, where Gerrard was joking about jumping off the plane with his surfboard, could not be tolerated since “those words can create panic.”
Gerrard had been going to Bali with 10 of his friends for a week-long trip.
“I didn’t really mean it. During the flight I was with my friend and went to the toilet and then took a walk around the plane,” Gerrard said.
Then his joke about skydiving missed its mark. Completely.
The young man was detained upon landing in Bali and could face charges of endangering the security of a flight—the max punishment for that is two years with a fine of up to Rp 500 million. Who’s laughing now?
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