A holidaymaker endangered the lives of passengers and staff by pulling the plastic cover off an emergency door as a plane was taking off, a court has heard.
Henry Kelly allegedly ripped the cover off an emergency door over one of the wings as the EasyJet flight with 150 people on board leaving Glasgow for Alicante last June.
He went on trial yesterday (MON) at Paisley Sheriff Court charged with breaking Articles 137 and 241 (8) of the Air Navigation Order 2009 and Sections 60 and 61 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982.
Prosecutors claim he acted in a manner likely to endanger the aircraft or anyone within the plane by ripping off the plastic cover and creating a risk that the door could open, placing the passengers and the plane in danger.
The plane's captain Hugh Shields, 46, told the court that, if the door had opened, a slide would have deployed and could have had catastrophic consequences for those on board and staff on the ground at Glasgow Airport.
He said explained: "We were entering the runway to take off and a warning initiated in the flight deck to advise us that a door was open in the aircraft.
"There is a computer screen and it flashes up and says 'door' and then it draws a picture of the doors in the aircraft.
"Then it says, 'right over wing'."
Shields, who is employed by EasyJet as an airline captain, told the court that there are two emergency doors over each side of the Airbus vessel he was piloting.
He said there is a lever underneath the plastic cover that Kelly pulled off and that, if the lever was pulled, the door would blow, and the emergency chute would deploy.
He explained: "When you are on the runway it is regarded as being a critical stage of the flight.""It was a category two warning."
He explained: "If there's a genuine problem we need to know what it is.
"It's extremely important because, if there's a genuine fire, for example, in the cabin, there's 150 people on the airline and the plane is full of fuel.
"The earlier we know the less chance there is of people being killed.
Mr Shields said that Air Traffic Control asked him to clear the runway and he decided to take the plane back to where the passengers had boarded from.
He also said that, had the panel been ripped off a bit later it could have had more severe consequences.
He said: "Beyond a certain speed you can't stop because you'll go into the Clyde or the M8.
"If it had been 20 seconds later we'd have been on the runway accelerating and we would have had to stop.
"Having to stop at high energy compromises the safety of the aircraft."
Mr Kelly denies the offence. Sheriff Tom McCartney adjourned the trial until next month.
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