You're on a plane about to take off, the person next to you is a concert pianist sipping on a bottle of water. Nice scenario, right? Well maybe not, if that pianist's water is actually ..vodka! The Billings Gazette describes how pianist David C. Howell...
had been partying the night before with his best friend in South Carolina, and "we had a lot to drink." While on his way home, Howell said, he took medication for his attention-deficit disorder to make it to the airport and Valium to sleep. And he drank vodka, he said. "Short of that, I don't remember anything," he said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Rostad filled in the blanks. The United flight was full when it left Chicago in the afternoon bound for Portland. Howell had boarded the aircraft with a water bottle filled with vodka and asked for a cup of ice from the flight attendants, Rostad said. When Howell requested more ice, this time with a lime or lemon, a flight attendant complied and asked if the water bottle contained alcohol. Howell said no. The attendant told Howell passengers are not allowed to carry on their own alcohol, and Howell again denied having alcohol in his water bottle. A United Airlines employee who was on the flight then told an attendant that Howell was acting "crazy" and using profanity, Rostad said. The attendant asked Howell to stop cursing and to calm down.Howell then went to the lavatory, where he began banging on the walls and cursing, Rostad said. Meanwhile, a passenger notified a flight attendant that Howell had been drinking alcohol from a water bottle and had consumed three-fourths of it within the first 30 minutes of the flight. While Howell was still in the lavatory, the flight attendant found the water bottle, smelled alcohol, rinsed it out and returned it to Howell's seat. As Howell left the lavatory, a male flight attendant tried to help him to his seat and told him repeatedly to sit down. Rostad said Howell threatened the flight attendant while pointing a finger in his face, saying, "I'll kill you." Howell then pushed the attendant with both hands, hitting him in the chest. Howell tried to poke the attendant again, but the attendant grabbed Howell's wrists, shoved him into his seat and buckled his seat belt. The captain, who had been apprised of the incidents, diverted the plane to Billings and taxied to a remote area, where police were waiting.
Maybe Mr. Howell can spend some downtime watching The Beat That My Heart Skipped, about a concert pianist who is also a gangster. It's actually quite a good film. And after seeing that, he could be feel relieved--while he may have threatened to kill a flight attendant, he never hurt anyone. Can't say the same for the concert pianist in the film.
