Fired RIM execs 'chewed through restraints' on flight

New details are emerging about the rowdy behaviour of two Research In Motion executives who were fired for disrupting an intercontinental flightincluding that they managed to chew their way out of restraints after being handcuffed by crew members.

George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, each pleaded guilty to mischief for disrupting an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing last week.

The plane landed instead in Vancouver, where a court laterordered them to pay $72,000in restitution. They also received suspended sentences and were placed on probation for a year.

RIMfired both menafter investigating the incident, but little information has been made public about what was so disruptive about their behaviour.

However, court documents obtained by CBC News paint a very chaotic picture.

The pair seemed heavily intoxicated from the start of the flight, according to one passenger. They drank, passed out, and woke up to continue consuming alcohol and yelling at one another.

Campbell was described as a "rowdy and abusive" passenger who at one point warned that he would "off people when they left the plane," according to the Crown prosecutor.

Aflight attendant saidthat Campbell also lay belly-down in the aisle during the ordeal, and began kicking the floor.

One of the men "assaulted a flight attendant and threatened to punch another," the prosecutiontold thecourt.

Crew members eventually handcuffed thetwo unruly passengers with plastic restraints and then with tape. But they eventually "chewed their way through their restraints."

Diverted to closer airport

The pilots, believing they could not make the trip to Beijing for security reasons,decided to divert the plane to Anchorage.As the situation continued to escalate they changed course again and headed for the Vancouver airport, which was closer.

During the final 80 minutes of the flight, "several flight attendants and a couple of passengers" restrained the two men and the crew initiated a "lockdown situation" so that no one was allowed to leave their seats.

The prosecutor in the case called Campbell and Wilson's conduct "way over the top."

"The repercussions for the company as well as every single person on the plane, both financially and perhaps even emotionally, are going to be huge."

Air Canada later pegged its losses for diverting the flight at nearly $200,000 and RIM issued a statement saying that the conduct did not fit with the company's "standards of business behaviour."

The two men were on a week-long business trip for the BlackBerry maker, but they were arrested after the flight landed in Vancouver.

Both men live near Waterloo, Ont., where RIM is headquartered.

Campbell refused to comment on the incident when reached by phone on Friday. Air Canada issued a statement but would not answer questions about the case.