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A man accused of making a bomb threat on a flight from Sydney to Malaysia asked passengers whilst in the air if they were "a slave to Allah".
Mohammad Ali Arif, 45, has been charged after the Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 departed Sydney at 1.40pm yesterday and landed safely back on the runway at 3.47pm, where it sat for hours with emergency vehicles nearby.
The Canberra resident refused to front court today and asked for a mental health assessment.
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Passengers have described their terrifying experiences.
"My name is Mohammad, a slave of Allah, are you a slave of Allah?" video shows Arif saying on the flight.
It's alleged he claimed to have a bomb in the backpack he was holding.
Video shows him taking out a mat to pray on as the plane descended.
"The crew were trying to get him to take the bag off, he said 'don't touch my bag, I've got a bomb in here'," a passenger said.
"He had a bag in his front and his hand in his bag, saying he had a bomb, so that was pretty scary," said another.
The plane was grounded on the tarmac for nearly three hours, causing 32 domestic inbound and outbound flights to be cancelled, with other flights delayed more than 90 minutes.
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A pilot questioned authorities about the length of time they were stuck on the runway.
"We seem to have lost contact with the … whoever is in charge of what's happening to us and we have been on the ground for two hours without any updates," the pilot said over the radio.
Two Federal Police officers boarded the plane at 6.30pm and detained Arif. All passengers disembarked by 7pm.
Many on board have been critical of the police response, asking why it took so long to get them off the plane.
"We sat there for over two hours, just sitting there thinking are we going to blow up or something, it was just so bad," a passenger said.
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Former police officer Peter Moroney said there were a number of protocols officers had to go through.
"There is a number of intelligence they would have been trying to do to ensure the safest outcome for those passengers."
Arif trained as an architect in Pakistan, recently worked as a security officer and posted videos of his faith online.
Federal Police alleged this morning that Arif had claimed to have explosives on board.
They said a 45-year-old Canberra resident had been charged with one count of making a false statement about threatening to damage a division three aircraft, and one count of a passenger not complying with cabin crew's safety instructions.
He is facing 10 years in jail and a $15,000 fine for each offence.
