Vanessa Lu 
 
 Business Reporter 
 
 
 
 Two drunken Research In Motion employees forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to make an unscheduled stop in Vancouver, disrupting travel plans of more than 300 people. 
 
 George Campbell, 45, of Conestogo, Ont., and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, of Kitchener, pleaded guilty to one charge of mischief in Richmond Provincial Court on Wednesday. 
 
 They were each given suspended sentences and one year’s probation, and ordered to pay restitution to Air Canada of $35,878 each, and barred from having any contact with Air Canada crews or flying that carrier during the probation period. 
 
 RIM issued a statement saying: “Based on the limited information available at this time, RIM has suspended the individuals involved pending further investigation.” 
 
 The incident began Monday night aboard Air Canada Flight 31, a non-stop flight from Toronto to Beijing, where the unruly passengers consumed “too much alcohol” and “disobeyed” the flight crew, according to Richmond RCMP. 
 
 The Boeing 777 aircraft, carrying 314 passengers and 17 crew members was already north of Alaska, when the pilots decided to turn the plane around to unload the passengers. 
 
 After forcibly restraining the two men, the crew notified the RCMP of the decision at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, and the plane landed at about 10:21 p.m. in Vancouver 
 
 Richmond RCMP officers were waiting at the airport to arrest the men: “They weren’t necessarily fighting. They were just simply being unruly in their drunken state,’ said Cpl. Sherrdean Turley in an interview. “And in that state, they just simply weren’t listening to any direction that the flight crew was giving them.” 
 
 Because the daily direct flight between Toronto and Beijing extends for 13 hours, any unscheduled stop would put the flight crew — four pilots and 13 flight attendants — beyond the number of hours they are allowed to fly for health and safety reasons. 
 
 But the airline could not immediately get a flight crew to the Vancouver airport, so passengers were put up in a hotel overnight and then flew on to Beijing on Tuesday, arriving 18 hours late. 
 
 The RCMP’s Turley praised the restitution order. “It’s really good. I can’t begin to imagine what this cost the company,” she said. 
 
 Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick added the crew followed standard procedures to maintain the safety and security of passengers and the flight. 
 
 “Safety and security are always paramount, so when the pilot feels that is compromised they will act,” he said. 
 
 Another passenger aboard the plane says Campbell and Wilson were fighting with the flight attendants, prompting the crew to subdue them. 
 
 With files from The Canadian Press ||||| To say it had not been a great fourth-quarter for Research in Motion, the Canada-based makers of BlackBerry, would be putting it mildly. There was that embarrassing North American outage, flatlining sales of their new smartphones amid steady growth for competitors, and a stock that has depreciated 77 percent since February of this year. What these guys could really use right about now is some positive publicity. Hahahahahahaha! Sorry. 
 
 Two of their executives — George Campbell, 45, of Conestogo, Ontario, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, of Kitchener, Ontario — boarded an Air Canada flight in Toronto on Monday that was headed directly to Beijing. In the air, the men then proceeding to get extremely drunk and rowdy, and "weren't listening to any direction that the flight crew was giving them." The plane had traveled north of Alaska when the pilots decided to turn the plane around — a Boeing 777, with 331 people on board — and land in Vancouver. 
 
 The men were "forcibly restrained" by crew, and RCMP officers were waiting to arrest them at the airport. Each was give a suspended sentence and one year's probation. They were ordered to pay Air Canada $35,878 each, and "barred from having any contact with Air Canada crews or flying that carrier during the probation period." 
 
 RIM's statement: 
 
 "Based on the limited information available at this time, RIM has suspended the individuals involved pending further investigation." 
 
 Well, sounds like there's a couple of openings at RIM! What are you waiting for? Get cracking! [Toronto Star, Screengrab via rim.com]
– 'Tis the season of headaches for BlackBerry: Two Research in Motion executives got incredibly drunk on a flight from Toronto to Beijing on Monday night, prompting pilots to turn the plane, which was north of Alaska, around. They landed in Vancouver, where the men were arrested, Gawker reports. George Campbell, 45, and Paul Alexander Wilson, 38, “simply weren't listening to any direction that the flight crew was giving them,” a Canadian official tells the Toronto Star. The two men got suspended sentences and a year’s probation; each has to pay Air Canada $35,878 and can't fly the airline during that probation period. On top of that, they’ve both been suspended from their jobs. The other 312 passengers had it pretty rough, too, notes the Star. Because the direct flight was a 13-hour one, the interruption meant the total time to get to Beijing exceeded flight crew safety regulations—so a new crew had to be called in, during which time the travelers were put up in a hotel. They ultimately arrived 18 hours late.