Unfriendly Skies Over Bangor, Maine

More and more transatlantic planes are stopping here to drop off unruly passengers in what seems to be a streak of recent “air rage.”

As of last week, three Britons, arrested over five weeks, were in the county jail charged with separate airborne offenses. On average, only eight to 12 planes drop off belligerent passengers here in an entire year.

The cases:

* Bryan Neal, 25, of Milton Keynes, was accused of smashing video equipment and an interior window on his May 3 flight from Florida to England while drunk, and telling passengers he hoped they would “get sucked out and die.” He was sentenced to 60 days and ordered to pay $28,875 to Airtours International.

* On June 5, two Delta Air Lines flight attendants were allegedly attacked by Christopher Bayes, 41, of Manchester, for refusing to give him more alcohol en route from Atlanta to England. He was charged with assault, interference with a flight crew and causing an unscheduled landing.

* Shabiyah Negus Davidson, 18, of West Midlands, went berserk and grabbed a female passenger by the throat on his May 26 flight from Jamaica to Amsterdam after ingesting cocaine that he was smuggling in a swallowed plastic bag, police said. He was charged with assault.