Drunk and high airline passenger gives Nazi salute and tries to strangle the pilot

An inebriated airline passenger who gave a Nazi salute and tried to strangle his flight's pilot was jailed and made bail for the physical altercation involving multiple airline employees.

The Belfast Telegraph reported that 51-year-old Paul Anthony Burgoyne became erratic and disorderly when a flight attendant asked him to raise his window blind so the plane could take off at the Belfast International Airport earlier this year.

"All right, mein Fuhrer," Burgoyne, originally from Northern Ireland, told the attendant before giving a Nazi salute. The captain came down during the altercation, and that's when the passenger began yelling at the pilot, telling him he was going to punch him.

Burgoyne eventually tried to grab the pilot by the throat and missed, grabbing his collar instead.

After being ejected from the plane, the passenger attempted to commandeer a "tug vehicle" and managed to grab its wheel and joystick before being physically hauled off of it. He then tried to fight another airline employee before being arrested, and police reports indicated he was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.

Burgoyne's lawyer said his client is "a decent member of society who holds down a decent job," and had left Northern Ireland for England to start afresh. He was sentenced to three months in jail, but made bail.