Steve Slater and Other Airplane 'Freak Outs'

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater may end up spending some time in jail after his dramatic departure from his job on Monday.

While he's getting all the media play this week, he isn't the first person whose airplane antics have generated attention.

Slater, 38, followed up a dispute with a passenger who sought to get his luggage too soon by getting on the public address system and cursing at the passenger. The passenger's luggage had knocked Slater in the head and the passenger refused to apologize, according to MyFox NY .

After swearing at the passenger he stated that 20 years in the airline industry was enough. "I've had it. That's it," the New York Daily News quoted a passenger as saying was Slater's last words before grabbing a beer, deploying the plane's emergency chute and sliding down behind his luggage.

Slater's last day on the job may result in felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

Other inflight bad behavior

There have been numerous other airplane incidents where a passenger or crew member have acted in violent or bizarre way.

• The website FlightsFromHell.com recounts an incident in 1995 where Gerald Finneran, the president of an investment banking company,  became drunk during an United Airlines flight from Buenos Aires to New York.

When he was told he had enough he decided to help himself. He threatened a flight attendant, kept a flight attendant from helping a sick passenger and pushed another flight attendant. He then used a food cart as a toilet and linen napkins as toilet paper.

Finneran was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault, which got him two years of probation, a $5,000 fine, community service, an order to attend alcohol counseling and not drink aboard flights. He was also ordered to pay $50,000 for airplane clean-up costs and the cost of reimbursing passenger's ticket costs.

• A Delta Connection flight was canceled in February when flight attendants got into an altercation. According to ABC News , two female flight attendants were involved in a fight on a flight, which was headed from Rochester, N.Y., to Atlanta.

"Apparently they got into a fistfight on the plane," passenger Steve Mazur had told ABC News. "The pilot decided to kick everyone off the plane."

Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines said the flight was canceled after two attendants had a disagreement but said there was no fistfight. An airline spokesman told the Associated Press that the fight happened as the plane was returning to the gate after a passenger became ill.

Two attendants were removed from duty while the airline investigated.

• The BBC reported in October that pilots and cabin crew got into a fight on an international flight to India. The fight started during an argument in the plane's cockpit over sexual harassment claims but then continued out into the galley.

Cabin crew of the flight over Pakistan, headed from the United Arab Emirates to Delhi, had alleged that pilots had sexually harassed a female flight attendant.

Celebrity freak outs

Celebrities have also come under the spotlight for bad behavior during flights.

• The Huffington Post reported in 2009 that merengue star Elvis Crespo was caught masturbating on an airplane headed from Houston to Miami. The Puerto Rican singer said he didn't recall doing that and officers interviewed him but did not arrest him.

• Ivana Trump, former wife of billionaire property mogul Donald Trump, allegedly was kicked off a plane in December after yelling at noisy children. The Daily Mail reported that Trump was screaming expletives as children ran up and down the first-class aisle.

The newspaper said Trump would not leave the New York-bound flight before it took off and had to be physically escorted to the terminal by security guards. She was not charged.

• The New York Post said a passenger claimed rapper Kanye West became upset at Los Angeles International Airport in February after he and his assistant were seated in business class instead of first class.

West told MTV News that it was just a rumor.

"This rumor is so funny, because I had a business-class seat and was actually offered a seat in first class," he said. "I had a friend who was sitting in coach and asked if they could bump him up to business instead of putting me in first. There was absolutely no altercation in any way."

• The celebrity blog PerezHilton.com said in July that comic Dave Chappelle "freaked out" on a private jet flight from New Jersey to Ohio. He reportedly refused to put on his seat belt, walked into the cockpit and asked how much longer the flight would be and grabbed a pilot's arms.

The blog stated that the flight was diverted to Pittsburgh where Chappelle checked into a hotel. A representative said the comic was having stomach problems and had to use a proper bathroom.