Terrified plane passengers were forced to tie a drunk doctor to a seat to stop him from opening the emergency exit at 33,000ft, according to reports.
Russian anaesthetist Vadim Bondar caused terror on an Aeroflot flight from Bangkok to Moscow and became "extremely aggressive", according to local media.
The airlines said the 43-year-old had been drinking rum on the 10 hour flight before becoming foul-mouthed and violent.
When he tried to open the door, a Norwegian traveller led the way in tackling him before Russians came to his aid, it is claimed.
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Passengers said the doctor cried when they tied him to a seat for four hours before the plane safely landed back in Moscow.
One passenger said: "He had two bottles of alcohol on him and at some point tried to open an emergency exit.
"The crew and fellow passengers tried to calm him down, but he kept screaming and yelling.
"He cried when his arms and hands were bound. He kept sobbing and saying, 'my hands are tied, I can't breathe'.
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Aeroflot spokeswoman Vera Abanina said: "The economy class passenger while quite obviously drunk was rudely violating public order.
"He was extremely aggressive, threatening and humiliating the flight attendants.
"He screamed and did everything to create maximum discomfort to other flight passengers.
"Two bottles of alcohol were found and confiscated from the passenger. He did not react to verbal and written warnings from the crew.
"Other passengers and the crew acted together and fixed the rule breaker in a seat using whatever means they managed to find until the end of the flight."
Dr Bondar, who specialises in helping patients in critical conditions caused by alcohol and drugs, was handed into police on arrival in Moscow.
Detectives have not yet decided whether to charge him.
But Russian's top criminal investigator, Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Comittee, personally intervened to demand a full probe into what happened on the flight.
The doctor admitted to drinking booze on the flight, but only to "pass the time."
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He later apologised to passengers on Russian TV, saying: "First of all, there were no demands for hijacking anything.
"The belt was pushing into my jugular vein and larynx which made breathing very hard."
He also claimed an "unknown medication" was injected into him and that a large cash sum - around £1,000 - was missing from his hand luggage after the plane landed.
He said he would talk to lawyers about his treatment on the flight.
