fisticuffs jennifer Beer-Filled Fisticuffs Forces Plane to Land Early MILAN, Italy (April 7, 1998 2:49 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - A plea for more beer ended in a midair bout of fisticuffs between passengers that forced a British jetliner carrying 231 holiday-makers to make an unscheduled landing in Milan. The Air 2000 plane was flying from Birmingham to Valletta, the capital of Malta, when the altercation erupted. The pilot requested permission to land in Milan because of what he called "a problem on board," airport officials said. Security forces, who apparently feared a hijacking, surrounded the plane on the runway. A 61-year-old passenger from Malta, who had already had too much to drink, triggered the incident when he tried to enter the cockpit to complain that a cabin attendant had refused to serve him a beer. Two other passengers, prison guards on holiday, intervened, then the man's 27-year-old son joined the fray, the officials said. The prison guards were slightly injured and treated at the airport clinic, while the man and his son were questioned by police. The charter flight was expected to take off for Valletta later. Air 2000 said it was looking into possible legal action. In a statement, it said such incidents were rare although it carried some 4 million passengers a year. -gracias to the AP 000427 ... ryanthered It just goes to show you once you start drinking dont stop untill you have landed. 001027 ... Norm Swearing and insults is a tool, I've found, to help grant me abstinence from such situations. I estimate that it's been at least a week since I engaged in a brawl. So I says fuck it, fer fuck sakes; fuck this shit. 020320 ... Norm Fuck I meant to say month. 020320 what's it to you? who go blather from