Naked man causes Virgin Australia plane chaos

A naked man reportedly ran down the aisle of a Virgin flight from Perth, knocking over a crew member and causing the plane to turn around.

A Virgin Australia flight was forced to turn around mid-flight after a naked man reportedly ran through the aircraft causing chaos and knocking over a crew member.

Virgin flight VA696 left Perth at 7.21pm on Tuesday night headed to Melbourne.

Flight data shows the plane barely made it over the Great Australian Bight before turning around, landing 30 minutes after takeoff.

Now it’s emerged that the reason the flight was abandoned was because a nude man ran through the plane. According to Channel 9, the man allegedly knocked over a crew member as he ran amok.

A naked man reportedly led to a Virgin Australia from Perth to Melbourne to turn around. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

‘Guys got no clothes on’

“A male passenger suddenly went bananas running up and down the aisle and bashing on the cockpit door,” a caller to Nine’s radio station 3AW said.

“Two air marshals had to restrain and handcuff the individual until the [flight] landed.”

The flight landed back in Perth at 7.56pm.

Talking to The Guardian, a passenger called Sterling said “all of a sudden I hear this running up the aisle and the guy’s got no clothes on and he’s just charging towards the front of the plane”.

He said there was: “yelling, screaming,” and the man knocked over a flight attendant.

“Initially you think, God forbid, it could be an attack. It’s really distressing being on a plane in that situation”.

The man was eventually pinned to the ground by three passengers and then handcuffed, he said.

The plane landed back in Perth less than an hour after it left the same airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

In a statement Virgin Australia said a “disruptive passenger on board,” was the cause of the flight being abandoned.

The plane was met by Australian Federal Police, “and the disruptive guest was offloaded”.

“The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority and we sincerely apologise to guests impacted.”

– with NCA NewsWire.