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. An employee followed the pilot and the two got into a fight. A second airport employee comes up and helps get the situation under control.
He was released and faces charges of misdemeanor criminal mischief, a class two misdemeanor, having caused damage of about $700. Local police say “he just hit his breaking point.” According to the pilot, though, he was doing everyone a service by “trying to get rid of issues for everyone waiting.” The incident occurred on August 2nd but is just being reported.
According to United Airlines, the Boeing 757 and 767 pilot was “removed from the schedule and is on leave while United conducts an internal investigation.” While One Mile at a Time excuses the rampage, noting he took out his aggression “on an object, and not on a person, in my view the 63 year old pilot is close to mandatory retirement age and shouldn’t be allowed back in the cockpit out of an ‘abundance of caution’ placing safety first. Put another way, what’s the upside of allowing him to fly given the demonstrated rage tendency?
Had a bad day at the office 😉
Bad judgment, though I bet a lot of people are secretly cheering him on. Worst judgment though is to confront an angry man with an ax when you aren’t a law enforcement officer.
So Lucky justifies it because he attacked an object and not a person? Guess he is also fine w property crime (which has essentially been decriminalized or at least not heavily prosecuted in many cities) since no one was hurt.
BS – fire him and throw the book at people that break the law.
Nothing quite like having an airline pilot who is responsible for passenger safety become unhinged and attack something with an ax. If he is in the cockpit on my next flight, you will find me on Amtrak.
This idiot is lucky he didn’t get shot.
I sympathize with the pilot. He probably was fed up after spending a lot of time dealing with disgruntled people. It seems that personnel were available to take the ax from him but not to fix the gate arm. I had a gate problem at LAX once with a bunch of other frustrated would be drivers. The three gates wouldn’t go up normally. It took parking personnel to get them to go up but even that took a long time. I ended up wasting an hour before getting through the gate because at first there was no personnel, then later on one and even later two. Not fun after a long time at the airport.
What was he doing in the field when they arrested him?
>> What was he doing in the field when they arrested him?
Looking to bury the hatchet.
If being delayed causes you take an ax to an inanimate object then a 1/4 of all fliers should be hacking up planes every day.
Contract First. Ax Next.
Looking forward to reading what Matthew over at Boarding Areas Law & Order blog, deems appropriate punishment for this action. He takes a dim view of any illegal activity and is keen on very strong deterrents, certainly more so than wishy washy Gary and Ben
no excuse esp. in uniform.
His career is over and should be.
This is basic anger management.
A pilot that uses all tools at his disposal is EXACTLY what you want when something goes amiss.
Its his ax, why do the “security guards” have the need to take it away? How about fixing the damn machine or fixing the traffic backup until it’s fixed?
Good for the pilot.
What Tim Dunn said and to add to that….another well off angry at the world old white guy that is not the victim he thinks he is. Surprised he wasn’t wearing his MAGA hat…..( for the record I’m an old white guy myself )
Ah…I find it fascinating that race is brought up. Everything today has a race card…”I have a toothache.” You’re an angry black person. “I’ve had a bad day at the office,” You’re an angry white male. What the hell does race have to do with any of this? NONE. If there was no picture, someone would still bring up race. Just stupid (you can fix ignorance but you can’t fix stupid) people. His biggest mistake, other than actually axing the gate, was to do it in uniform. If he passes his 1st class medical every six months…he should be allowed to fly. However, United may have a few words to that as…he damaged the brand.
Ummh, the bigger question is why is he driving around with an AX in his trunk?
@drrichard. I agree. Cheering him on and wishing I could have seen it. Every time I park in a Denver parking garage, there’s a line of people ahead of me waiting to get out because there is always someone who doesn’t know how to use a “self checkout Kiosk”, can’t read the instructions on the machine, doesn’t understand the instructions, or they can’t complete the instructions because their debit or credit card doesn’t work or is entered in the correct position or alignment.
From the video, this appears to be a non-working parking gate, and not the “fault” of a single individual – but the rage is something we all have felt, especially when you are tired and exhausted from whatever you’ve parked to attend and you just want the people ahead of you to get through the parking process so you can go home. Why can’t they just take a picture of you license plate and send you a bill? You know they have cameras there. Why not use them and get the people out of the garage/parking lot in a timely fashion?
Did anyone try lifting the arm? Let a few people out and the pilot gets back in his car and he gets let out. An ax is never a good choice. Maybe with chopping down a tree. It depends on the circumstances.
Co Pilot: “Ken, there seems to be something with the landing gear.”
Ken: “Take the controls. I”ll be right back.”
it’s the hair dye that made him crazy!!
I suspect he’ll be fine if he has a good lawyer. He hacked away at it because he was being illegally detained by the parking machine. He, and 6 other cara in front of him, was being unreasonably prevented from leaving. It was a persistent issue, so long as they have tried fixing it and a reasonable amount of time was given.
I think a pilot who is very proficient with an ax is exactly who you want in the cockpit. If you lived in the Rockies, an ax is great tool along with a shovel for the trunk.
Where did he get the axe, if it was in his trunk, for what??? Obvious questions not mentioned on any news reports I’ve seen
I have to admit that I laughed when I read the headline. Who hasn’t been so frustrated by something that they’ve not wished to do something such as this? But between the thought and the act is a large chasm and basic anger management should prevent people from crossing it. Someone with such low tolerance for frustration should not be in the cockpit.
I think a pilot who is very proficient with an axe is exactly who you want in the cockpit. If you lived in the Rockies, an axe is great tool along with a shovel for the trunk for survival.
Love the “Bizarre” since it sounds so much better than crazy.
I agree. He should be allowed to take retirement given all the years he has put in but if he is showing this poor of judgement he shouldn’t be on the flight deck anymore. It wasn’t just causing property damage which is questionable enough. He struggled with airport employees as well. I wouldn’t be comfortable on a plane where he is the pilot.
I’d like to point at there were at least 2 security guards and a working camera trained at the malfunctioning gate. Nobody bothered to help. Pilot’s day was done and needs legally required rest. Again, taking action and not just sitting there doing nothing is exactly who I want at the controls….
He should be fired.
I love this guy, and Id fly with him anywhere, he is a person that takes charge and gets things done…meanwhile the sheep line up and wait for hours at a malfunctioning lift gate. If you want a weak, sheeplike man flying you, thats your choice, but not what Id want. There were 2 mall cops watching him, yet they couldnt get off their fatasses and open the gate for all of the cars?????
This guy should run for office!!