Category: AVIATION

The co-pilot of a Delta commercial flight threatened to shoot the captain during a flight in August 2022. He has now been federally charged with threatening to shoot the plane’s captain. The threat was prompted by a disagreement over a passenger’s medical event and the need to divert the aircraft to another airport other than the intended destination, authorities said. He is now facing a felony charges. First officer Jonathan Dunn told the captain they would be shot multiple times if the flight was diverted. The Department of Transportation Inspector General’s office detailed the occurrence in a report that said the two disagreed about the situation related to a passenger medical event. Dunn, who is from Marysville, Calif., was indicted by a Utah grand jury. The court documents say Dunn “used a dangerous weapon in assaulting and intimidating the crewmember.” Dunn was authorized to carry a firearm as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program that authorizes flight crew members to use firearms to defend against an act of criminal violence and air piracy while attempting to gain control of an aircraft. Dunn was not only removed from that program but fired from his position at Delta Air Lines, according to the company.

A hostage situation occurred at Hamburg Airport Saturday and Sunday November 4 and 5 and lasted almost 18 hours. The tense situation began when a man drove his vehicle through the gates of the airport according to airport authorities. The man had his 4-year-old daughter with him in the car. The airport was closed and flights were cancelled on the evening of November 4 when the armed man drove through the airport gate with his vehicle and shot a firearm into the air, the German news agency, dpa, said in a report. The man then continued on with the vehicle until he was just outside a terminal building and parked the car under a plane. The German police said the 35-year-old Turkish citizen had his daughter with him in the car and had reportedly taken her by force from the mother in a custody battle. Authorities said the man’s ex-wife had contacted them earlier about a child abduction. Local media reported that the man, who parked his car next to a Turkish Airlines plane during the standoff, had demanded that he and his daughter leave Germany and fly to Turkey. More than 100 flights were cancelled, planes were diverted from Hamburg and thousands of travelers were impacted by the situation. Reports say hundreds were put up at nearby hotels while the event took place. A psychologist negotiated with the man for hours. Nobody was injured during the standoff and all passengers had been evacuated from the airport, police said. Flight operations at the airport resumed on Sunday night. In a news statement, Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher expressed relief that no one was hurt. “The hostage-taking at Hamburg Airport is over after long, dramatic hours,” Tschentscher said.

An angry crowd numbering the hundreds was shown on video footage posted to social media shouting “Allahu Akbar” and waving Palestinian flags at the Russian airport in Makhachkala, a predominantly Muslim area in the Russian republic of Dagestan. The crowd was reportedly searching for people arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel. Some people were able to gain access to the ramp and ran out to the aircraft and surrounded it. Social media postings showed video of the crowd running through the airport shouting antisemitic slogans. The airport was closed and security forces there later brought the situation under control, according to a report on the BBC. Sixty of the alleged mob participants were arrested according to Russian news reports. The airport reopened Monday but flights from Israel are being “temporarily redirected to other cities.” Israel urged Russia to protect “all its citizens and all Jews.”

A flight operated by Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, diverted to Portland International Airport in Oregon on Sunday, October 22. The carrier said, and ATC recordings confirmed, the diversion occurred because of a security threat related to an authorized occupant in the cockpit jump seat. “On Oct. 22, Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 operated by Horizon Air from Everett, WA (PAE) to San Francisco, CA (SFO) reported a credible security threat related to an authorized occupant in the flight deck jump seat,” Alaska Airlines said. “The crew secured the aircraft without incident.” A Seattle Times report said an Alaska Air off-duty pilot tried to shut off engines on flight from Everett and had to be subdued. “I’ll just give you a heads-up. We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit,” the pilot can be heard telling ATC in recordings. “It doesn’t seem like he’s causing any issue at the back. I think he’s subdued. Other than that, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and parked.” Alaska Airlines pilot Joe Emerson, 44, was arrested by Port of Portland law enforcement and booked into jail just after 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office website. The booking shows the man was being held on suspicion of attempted murder and reckless endangerment. The U.S. Attorney’s office of District of Oregon said an off-duty commercial airline pilot was arrested after he attempted to shut down the engines of a passenger plane in flight and charged in federal court. Joseph David Emerson, 44, of Pleasant Hill, California, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants. According to court documents, on October 22, 2023, Port of Portland police officers responded to a report of an inbound aircraft that had diverted from its route between Everett, Washington, and San Francisco to Portland International Airport due to an in-flight disturbance. Police dispatch reported that Emerson, an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot seated in a cockpit jump seat, had attempted to shut down the plane’s engines during flight. After landing, responding officers interviewed the two pilots. The pilots recounted that, approximately halfway between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, after engaging with them in casual conversation, Emerson attempted to grab and pull two red fire handles that would have activated the plane’s emergency fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines. After a brief physical struggle with the pilots, Emerson exited the cockpit. Flight attendants placed Emerson in wrist restraints and seated him in the rear of the aircraft. During the flight’s descent, Emerson tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit. A flight attendant stopped him by placing her hands on top of his. After landing in Portland, Emerson was arrested without further incident and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on multiple state charges of attempted murder and reckless endangerment. He remains in custody in Multnomah County on a federal hold pending his first appearance in federal court at a later date. This case was investigated by the FBI and Port of Portland Police Department. It is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. Subsequently, it was reported that Emerson, who was riding on the cockpit jump seat on a Horizon Air flight said “I’m not OK” just before trying to pull the fire suppression handles which would have shut down the engines if the fast-thinking pilot crew hadn’t quickly reset them. He later said in a statement made to police that he had taken psychedelic mushrooms recently, according to the charging documents made public Tuesday. Oregon state prosecutors filed 83 counts of attempted murder against Emerson just before he appeared in court. His attorney entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. Federal prosecutors also charged Emerson with interfering with a flight crew, a charge that can carry up to 20 years in prison. Emerson told Port of Portland police that he had been struggling with depression, one of his friends had recently died and that he had taken psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before the flight. He also said he had not slept in more than 40 hours, according to the document.

A chaotic situation arose on a JetBlue flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida. The passengers were on a tight schedule with their connections for an international flight to Quito, Ecuador. The flight attendants asked the other passengers to let those with the tight connections deplane first. At that point, dozens of passengers got out of their seats and began trying to get their bags from the overhead bins while the plane was in the air. Despite multiple attempts to get them to sit back down, the flight attendants became exasperated and threatened to call police once on the ground. The passengers began pushing their way out of the aircraft at the gate. In spite of all efforts, the passengers reportedly missed the connection.

An American Airlines passenger was kicked off a flight after getting angry and complaining about another person’s baggage in the overhead bin above his seat. Another passenger captured the confrontation between the man and a flight attendant and it was posted on social media. The man became irate, threatened to call the police on the flight attendant and the passenger was recorded being escorted off the plane with several bags. The identity of the passenger remains unknown, and no additional details were available.

A United Airlines pilot was caught on camera chopping down a parking gate with an ax. Pilot Kenneth H. Jones was filmed at the exit of an employee parking lot at Denver International Airport, chopping the gate numerous times before it falls off the stanchion. Jones was approached by airport employees, eventually giving up the ax. He was arrested and is due to appear in court at the end of September.

A 45-year-old man was arrested by Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other passengers on MH122 Airbus-A330 flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur were safely evacuated from a flight after the aircraft turned around and flew back to its departure point due to the man’s erratic behavior. The passenger on board a Malaysia Airlines flight began shouting at passengers, “Are you slaves of Allah?” The man, who says his name is Mohammed, called himself a “slave of Allah,” before challenging other passengers nearby to repeat that they are also “slaves of Allah.” The man pointed his finger at passengers, shouting, “Say it!” Another video clip shows the man kneeling in prayer after laying out his prayer mat in the aisle of the plane. A passenger on the flight said the man “unzipped his backpack, put his hands in, made barely veiled threats about having something dangerous in it screaming at the top of his lungs right next to my seat.” Members of the flight crew reportedly examined the bag and did not find anything suspect. The plane landed back in Sydney and was isolated at the end of a runway. “An emergency response plan was enacted and an evacuation was initiated once it was deemed safe for passengers and crew,” an AFP spokesman said. The captain of another aircraft at the airport told passengers their flight would be delayed a couple of hours. “He just announced the situation in Sydney just got worse and is a high risk security situation,” a story in the Daily Mail Australia said. A passenger on the Malaysia Airways flight tweeted, “Fire trucks all around. Fool that threatened staff must be blacklisted.” The plane was in the air about two hours when the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were called to meet the plane on arrival. “As a result of this afternoon’s incident, there have been 32 domestic flights cancelled (16 inbound plus 16 outbound), with delays of up to 90 minutes for other domestic flights,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said. “Currently no international flight cancellations. Passengers are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.”

A Caucasian mother who was suspected of trafficking her biracial daughter back in 2021 by Southwest Airlines employees has filed a racial discrimination suit against the company. Mary MacCarthy was traveling to Denver from Los Angeles with her 10-year-old daughter to attend her brother’s funeral according to an NBC News report nearly two years ago. Upon landing in Denver, MacCarthy and her daughter were confronted by police officers because a flight attendant suspected her of potential human trafficking. A federal lawsuit filed in August in the District Court of Colorado accuses Southwest Airlines of racial discrimination. MacCarthy says the airline staff flagged her as suspicious “based on a racist assumption about a mixedrace family.”