Air Passenger Gets Prison for Disturbance

A man who disrupted a Christmas Day intercontinental flight by shouting that the passengers would “burn in hell” was sentenced in Miami to six months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith called Rodrigo Deambrosio’s actions “almost unforgivable” and said that if he had been on the flight, he might have rushed the defendant himself.

Deambrosio, 34, said that the American Airlines flight from New York to Buenos Aires would end in a “fireball” and that everyone was “going to die and burn in hell,” a flight attendant testified. The disruption forced the flight to be diverted to Miami.

Deambrosio’s attorney said her client, who pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew, was under unusual stress compounded by a fear of flying.