WINNIPEG — Confronted with the details about how his booze-fuelled belligerent conduct triggered the expensive diversion of his Toronto-bound Air Canada flight to Winnipeg, Byron Pinksen was simply floored.

"I couldn't have done those things," the Newfoundland man told his lawyer during a visit at the Winnipeg Remand Centre not long after waking up following his Oct. 25, 2011, arrest by city police.

To this day his memory appears no better.

"I really don't remember any of it," Pinksen told court Wednesday. "But they say that I did it, so I'll take responsibility for it."

Pinksen, 42, pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of an aircraft, uttering threats and an Aeronautics Act infraction.

Judge Cynthia Devine endorsed a joint recommendation between the Crown and defence for a sentence of two years supervised probation.

Devine was told Pinksen downed four or five beers at the Edmonton airport bar and also took an unfamiliar anti-anxiety pill before embarking.

After the plane was airborne, Pinksen kept drinking his own liquor despite being ordered to stop. He became confrontational with some of his fellow 147 passengers, prosecutor Monique Cam said.

Flight attendants received several complaints about his combative conduct, which ultimately escalated to the point Pinksen's hands and feet had to be taped together to restrain him in his seat. One person got kicked in the stomach during that process, court heard.

Pinksen then proceeded to loudly and vulgarly deride and threaten a flight attendant who was tasked with keeping an eye on him.

The pilot elected to divert to Winnipeg for safety reasons. Once landed, police and security called to remove Pinksen had to forcibly drag him off the plane.

"His belligerence and aggression were relentless," said Cam.

The diversion cost Air Canada $14,889 in extra fees and charges. Devine ordered he repay it.
Pinksen, a father of three, has already paid a heavy toll in embarrassment, hassle and real dollars, defence lawyer Aaron Braun said. "It almost cost him his marriage," said Braun. "He's put himself in a deep hole."

He's also indefinitely banned from flying Air Canada. Court heard Pinksen has been in counselling and hasn't had a drop to drink since the day of the outburst.

james.turner@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @heyjturner