Tag Archives for pilot.
An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot, riding the cockpit’s jump seat, attempted to shut off the engines mid-flight from Seattle Paine Field to San Francisco. The ensuing cockpit altercation, lasting around 90 seconds, are laid out in the criminal complaint against the jump seat rider. Here’s what happened during those crucial moments, and then once he was sent to the back of the plane.
The answer to what transpired actually comes from an internal American Airlines communication about the incident, where the airline explains that “44 year old Joseph Emerson tried “to disable the aircraft engines while at cruise altitude by deploying the engine fire suppressions system.”
Sunday evenings Alaska Airlines flight 2059, a Horizon Air flight from Seattle’s Paine Field to San Francisco, diverted to Portland. It appears that a pilot was jumpseating and “tried to shut the engines down and crash the airplane.”
According to Alaska Airlines, “no weapons were involved, and the crew was able to secure the cabin without incident.”
Air Canada has suspended a pilot who went on a social media posting rampage against Israel and Jews. The pilot posted to his since-deleted Instagram account in uniform draped in a Palestinian flag and stating, Israel – Hitler is proud of you – terrorist state,” “F- you Israel. Burn in hell” and “Keep the world clean” as a caption to eliminating an Israeli flag.
A co-pilot snorted coke off of a woman’s breasts the night before a Johannesburg – London flight last month and put details of a substance-fueled orgy in writing in a series of texts to a flight attendant before trying to work the trip home. She reported it and the flight was cancelled. He was drug tested on arrival back in London and fired.
American Airlines pilots approved a new four year contract that increases pay by more 20% immediately and more than 45% during that the four years of the agreement. The deal includes many “quality of life” (work rule) concessions. 73% of pilots voting were in favor of the new deal. One of the items that pilots got in their new deal is first class deadheading – flying first class when not piloting an aircraft between segments that they’re working on a trip. (That’s different than commuting to and from their base if they live in a different city than where they’re assigned to start and end their trips.) This is broadly similar to a benefit that United pilots won three years ago. On the one hand, this promotes well-rested pilots. Larger seats are more comfortable and…
United Airlines pilot Kenneth Jones was arrested in a Denver Airport employee parking lot after a “bizarre ax attack” against the lot’s exit gate. He says he got tired of waiting for the arm to go up. The uniformed pilot is shown on video taking an axe out of his trunk and swinging the axe at the gate more than 24 times and finally got it up.
A Southwest Airlines passenger – a professional comedian – confronted the pilot of his flight during boarding to ask whether the captain was drunk. That did not go over well, and the pilot’s reaction was caught on video.
An American Airlines pilot, who identifies as Caucasian, received an indefinite suspension for violating the federal mask mandate in December 2021. He is suing for… racial discrimination.
An American Airlines Boeing 737 captain lays out proper flight etiquette – and that it’s going to be enforced – before every flight. One passenger caught the soliloquy on video, titling it “Thank you for coming to his TED talk.”
Here’s the thing. This pilot is right in every single respect.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
