Baggage handler ‘made plane abort landing with hoax call’

A BAGGAGE handler allegedly forced a Virgin flight to “go around” at Melbourne Airport in one of 16 hoax calls, a court heard.

Paul Sant, 19, allegedly made a Virgin Australia plane abort its landing in Melbourne with a hoax call. / Picture: Peter Parks/AFP

A FORMER baggage handler forced a Virgin flight to abort its landing in Melbourne with a hoax transmission telling it to “go around”, a court has heard.

Paul Sant, 19, allegedly made 16 prank calls to aircraft and air traffic control at Melbourne and Avalon airports between September 5 and November 3.

The aspiring pilot from Rockbank, in Melbourne, is accused of advising two flights to either turn around or abort their landings, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard. He also allegedly made mayday transmissions to other aircraft on the national distress frequency, claiming flights had crashed into the Maribyrnong river, or were at risk of doing so.

Sant is autistic and has trouble “adhering to social cues”, according to his defence lawyer Pern Chaya. She said he was bring held in a cell with offenders aged in their 40s and 50s, one of whom was coming down from drugs.

“He was intimidated and scared,” Ms Chaya told the court.

“He’s learnt his lesson.”

Police opposed bail, saying the teenager posed a real risk of endangering other aircraft and passengers. “These calls had the potential to cause a major aviation incident with a threat to human life,” said Australian Federal Police Constable Jonathan Croft.

Sant is charged with one count of interference likely to endanger safety or cause loss or damage and four counts of endangering the safety of aircraft, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Magistrate Jelena Popovic adjourned the bail hearing until December 14 so Sant can undergo a psychological assessment.