Facebook pages have been set up in honour of a flight attendant who launched a four-letter tirade at a passenger before grabbing a bottle of beer and deploying an emergency slide to make a getaway.

Dozens of users posted comments praising Steven Slater for his dramatic exit from a jet at Kennedy Airport in New York.

The 38-year-old used the plane’s PA system to demand an apology from a passenger who had accidentally hit him on the head with some hand luggage.

When the passenger refused – with less than polite words – Slater replied in kind before declaring that he had enough of 20 years in the industry before taking a beer from the beverage cart and activating the emergency exit, the New York Times reported.

“Way to go Steven!” posted several Facebook users.

Slater was arrested at his home in Queens, New York.

He has been charged with felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

Reports said Mr Slater lost his cool when he was hit by luggage as he tried to stop a passenger standing while the plane coasted after landing.

“To the passenger who called me a mother ******, **** you,” he is reported to have said on the plane’s intercom.

Passenger Phil Catelinet said Mr Slater’s reaction on the JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh was “the most interesting part of the day to that point”.

“He was smiling. He was happy he’d done this,” Mr Catelinet told NBC’s Today.

No date has been set for Mr Slater’s court hearing.

News item courtesy of www.skynews.com