A man who caused a flight from Sydney to turn around and remain locked down on the airfield for three hours has been charged with false statements and refusing to disembark.

Pilot and public speaker Richard de Crespigny told Millsy and Karl on 6PR Breakfast it was pretty rare for incidents to reach the level they did yesterday.

Press PLAY to hear more about the Sydney flight incident

“Normally, there are many defenses in aviation like no-fly lists and security and cabin crew watching you at the gate and on the aircraft, and if there’s anything wrong they’ll onboard a passenger before they become a problem,” Mr de Crespigny said.

“The problem is when someone says they have a bomb, the whole procedure changes.”

Image: X/chzaib/jawadmnazir/flightaware