Off duty pilot arrested for attempted sabotage

[Matthew H Fish]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/alaska-airlines-flight-diverted.htmlThis article is surprising and a little confusing to follow, but apparently, an off-duty airline pilot who was ferrying inside the cockpit of a flight tried to shut off the engines but was restrained from doing so, and then the flight landed at PDX and the off-duty pilot was arrested.
From reading the article, there are several things that are unclear to me, including the motivation.
But also, obviously, while this type of thing doesn't happen often, it poses a much larger threat in an airplane than in a train. Cutting the engines of an airplane is obviously fatal...cutting the engines of a train means spending an extra half hour in Chehalis!
It will be interesting to see how this story develops.

 

[blueman271]

I’m not a pilot nor am I trying to minimize the severity of this incident but modern airliners are capable of gliding, they aren’t going to immediately fall out of the sky if they lose thrust from the engines.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

And for that matter, I imagine that the pilots could also reignite the engines relatively quickly. Although the problem isn't just the engines being turned off, but them being turned off by a violent person inside the cockpit.
There are also ways that someone at the controls of a train could cause a lot of problems. But, ceteris paribus, it seems a plane has much more possible damage associated with something like this than a train.

 

[tgstubbs1]

This has a few more details. ... Alaska Airlines flight diverts after off-duty pilot attempts to disable engines

They said this off-duty pilot passed a medical recently, somehow the mental part got past them.

 

[pi314]

I'm a retired pilot, and there are so many puzzling things about this incident.

First thing to point out is off-duty pilots ride in the cockpit jumpseat all the time, usually commuting to or from work, and many times the jump seater is an employee of a different airline as part of a reciprocal agreement, so this occupancy situation probably happens hundreds of times system-wide on a daily basis, especially with most flights filled to capacity these days.

Second, if a jump seater really wanted to bring down an airplane by starving the engines of fuel, they'd do it at a low altitude where a restart would be take too long and the pilots' attention would be focused on the takeoff or approach without the ability to really monitor the actions of a jump seater.

Third, shutting the engines down is far less effective than simply unstrapping and slamming full body weight into the control yoke to shove the nose down at low altitude.

In other words, if he really was determined to crash it, he could have. There has to be some bizarre mental issue going on to do something so brazen yet ineffective.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

This has a few more details. ... Alaska Airlines flight diverts after off-duty pilot attempts to disable engines

They said this off-duty pilot passed a medical recently, somehow the mental part got past them.

Someone can be quite sane and still wish to harm others. The link did say it was not connected to any current geopolitical events. Someone without mental illness can still attempt to harm others, maybe provoked by a life event. All of that is speculation.
I guess from a train travel point of view, what is interesting to me is how much "seriousness" everything involved with airline travel usually has--- there is so much security involved in air travel (and of course, some people believe a lot of it is "security theater"), especially opposed to train travel where people can just wheel their bags on at the last minute, and there are many places where people could, if they wanted to, get close to disruptive machinery. And yet, in reality, maybe air travel still has a lot of holes in it, as far as people's ability to cause dangerous disruptions?

 

[Matthew H Fish]

Third, shutting the engines down is far less effective than simply unstrapping and slamming full body weight into the control yoke to shove the nose down at low altitude.

In other words, if he really was determined to crash it, he could have. There has to be some bizarre mental issue going on to do something so brazen yet ineffective.

Two things I considered was that this was a "desperate cry for help", in that he wanted to make a scene in a way that he knew wouldn't actually lead to any injuries.
Edited to add: since the man was a pilot, if he really wanted to cause a disaster, he could have done it any day of the week while flying his own plane.

I also wonder if he delusionally thought that there might be a problem with the engines and that he was saving the plane by shutting them off. (And while thinking this, my mind flashed to the Twilight Zone episode).
But I guess systemically, my question is: how easy is it for one person to disrupt air travel, as opposed to ground travel?

 

[pi314]

Two things I considered was that this was a "desperate cry for help", in that he wanted to make a scene in a way that he knew wouldn't actually lead to any injuries.
I also wonder if he delusionally thought that there might be a problem with the engines and that he was saving the plane by shutting them off. (And while thinking this, my mind flashed to the Twilight Zone episode).
But I guess systemically, my question is: how easy is it for one person to disrupt air travel, as opposed to ground travel?

It'll be interesting to see what his motivation was during interrogation, but it was some seriously unhinged behavior that thank goodness is obviously extremely rare. Suffice to say he won't ever fly at the controls of an airplane again and most likely will be banned from commercial flights for life as a card-carrying member of the Fed's "no-fly" list. Assuming he ever gets out of prison that is.

 

[Brian Battuello]

I'm a retired 18 year commercial (not airline) pilot, and am very familiar with the medical routine. The good news is that 99.99% of pilots take their medical condition very seriously, and work with their personal doctors, company doctors, and FAA medical examiners to ensure that they are physically and mentally ready to fly airplanes. Would that any other area of transportation, except maybe the military, take medical condition so seriously. That said, for the .01% of pilots that develop mental situations unconducive to safe flight, it is pretty straightforward to hide it. If a person is either suicidal and/or psychopathic and wants to hide the condition, they are smart enough to do it.

You have no reason to worry on any given flight. Your pilots are far more professional than necessary, and you are in extremely good hands. Save your concern for your Uber driver and even worse, the other drivers on the road.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

It'll be interesting to see what his motivation was during interrogation, but it was some seriously unhinged behavior that thank goodness is obviously extremely rare. Suffice to say he won't ever fly at the controls of an airplane again and most likely will be banned from commercial flights for life as a card-carrying member of the Fed's "no-fly" list. Assuming he ever gets out of prison that is.

Assuming that the facts, as reported so far, are true and complete.
I have already considered several alternate theories that, while far-fetched, are still possible.

 

[Brian Battuello]

FWIW, I enjoyed every minute of my flying career, and never failed a flight or medical exam. Technically, I am still completely legal to fly privately if I chose to get the required experience updates. I decided to stop flying for personal medical reasons, which I need not disclose, but they don't affect any other area of my life.

 

[Bob Dylan]

FWIW, I enjoyed every minute of my flying career, and never failed a flight or medical exam. Technically, I am still completely legal to fly privately if I chose to get the required experience updates. I decided to stop flying for personal medical reasons, which I need not disclose, but they don't affect any other area of my life.

I too am a Retired Commercial Licensed Pilot ( your License is issued for Life unless Revoked by the FAA for multiple reasons), but quit flying when my eyesight started deteriorating ( Cataracts)and my hand eye co-ordination started slowing due to old age.

Both are vital to Safe Flying in any plane!

All of the Airline and Military pilots I know ( several are AU Members)are extremely Safety Concious, and as Brian said, are very Professional.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

You have no reason to worry on any given flight. Your pilots are far more professional than necessary, and you are in extremely good hands. Save your concern for your Uber driver and even worse, the other drivers on the road.

I am not specifically worried about myself on a flight.
I am more asking structural questions about whether the security measures at airports are more apparent. While pilots might be rigorously tested and monitored, I can imagine many ways that ground crews or staff could have access to ways that could cause harm, which I obviously don't want to describe here. As in 2018, when a member of the ground crew of (incidentally) Horizon Airlines stole a jet and took it on a joyride before crashing into Ketron Island.
My bigger question is how much of the strictness of airport and airflight security is real.
My own feeling many times is that the stress, strictness and difficulty of air travel are, in their own way, a selling point. After all, if everything is done with so much seriousness, than this must be an intrinsically serious way to travel!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

If commercial pilot secretly wants to kill everyone on board it can be hard to reliably prevent it.

Luckily this attempt failed and everyone survived physically unscathed this time around.

It's unclear how much the passengers actually saw or understood what they had seen.

The following are examples where on-duty crew are believed to be involved in downing the aircraft intentionally.

 

[jebr]

My bigger question is how much of the strictness of airport and airflight security is real.

Airport employees, at least in my experience, undergo a ten year background check before getting their airport access. There's also a separate level for those who need access to non public areas, which I've never done but do have some additional rules and training to get.

That said, there are certainly weak points that basically put trust in screened employees to not intentionally sabotage security.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

That said, there are certainly weak points that basically put trust in screened employees to not intentionally sabotage security.

Relevant XKCD:

 

[caravanman]

"Most people aren't murderers..." Indeed, we should keep in mind that 99.999% of all our fellow human beings are ordinary folk, just like us. When we set out on our travels, live in the moment, enjoy it all, and not worry so much about "what could go wrong"...

 

[John Santos]

Relevant XKCD:

This reminds of the time on Seinfeld when Kramer adopted a highway. For people unfamiliar with the adopt-a-highway concept (i.e. people who live in countries where the government maintains public facilities), this meant he was supposed to be responsible for picking up litter along it. Usually, the adopter is a local company looking for tax write-off and some free publicity. Of course he misunderstood it. He decided it would be a much more pleasant driving experience if the lanes were wider, so he painted over some of the lines, turning a 4-lane highway into a 2-lane highway. The results were disastrous, but I don't think anyone got hurt unless their heads exploded from frustration in the massive traffic jam the next day.

 

[jebr]

Federal charges have been filed. Excerpts from the criminal complaint:

"Pilot 2 advised that at the beginning of the flight, EMERSON engaged in casual conversation with them about the weather. EMERSON told the Pilots that he (EMERSON) had been working for the airline for 10 years. Then, during the flight, Pilot 2 observed EMERSON throw his headset across the cockpit and announce “I am not okay.” Pilot 2 observed EMERSON grab both red engine shutoff handles. Pilot 2 advised that EMERSON had to be “wrestled with” for several seconds before EMERSON stopped what he was doing. Pilot 2 declared an inflight emergency, turned the autopilot off, and changed the aircraft’s course to fly to Portland. Once EMERSON exited the cockpit, the pilots secured the cockpit door. Pilot 2 advised the interviewing police officer that EMERSON was unable to pull the red handles down all the way and fully activate the engine shutoff due to the pilots “wrestling with EMERSON.” If EMERSON had successfully pulled the red engine shutoff handles down all the way, then it would have shut down the hydraulics and the fuel to the engines, turning the aircraft into a glider within seconds. Pilot 2 stated that EMERSON’s actions interfered with their ability to operate the aircraft."

"Responding officers interviewed several flight attendants. During the flight, the flight attendants received a call from the cockpit that EMERSON was “losing it” and he needed to get out of the cockpit. EMERSON was observed peacefully walking to the back of the aircraft. EMERSON told one flight attendant that he “just got kicked out of the flight deck.” EMERSON said to the flight attendant, “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad.” The flight attendants sat EMERSON in a flight attendant seat in the back of the aircraft and placed cuffs on EMERSON’s wrists. During the flight’s decent, EMERSON turned towards an emergency exit door and tried to grab the handle. A flight attendant stopped EMERSON by placing her hands on top of EMERSON’s hands. The flight attendant engaged EMERSON in conversation in an attempt to distract him from trying to grab the emergency exit handle again. Another flight attendant observed EMERSON make statements such as, “I messed everything up” and that “he tried to kill everybody.” The flight attendant noticed EMERSON take out his cellular phone and appeared to be texting on the phone. EMERSON was heard saying he had just put 84 peoples’ lives at risk tonight including his own."

From what I've seen, sounds like there was some sort of mental breakdown, perhaps with some drugs involved. A bit scary, but glad the pilots were able to gain control of the situation and that it ended with a safe landing.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Assuming that the facts, as reported so far, are true and complete.
I have already considered several alternate theories that, while far-fetched, are still possible.

"I would like to hold off judgement on a thing like that Sir until all the facts are in"

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't think anyone got hurt

Oh the humanity!

 

[Matthew H Fish]

Federal charges have been filed. Excerpts from the criminal complaint:





From what I've seen, sounds like there was some sort of mental breakdown, perhaps with some drugs involved. A bit scary, but glad the pilots were able to gain control of the situation and that it ended with a safe landing.

"I would like to hold off judgement on a thing like that Sir until all the facts are in"

Well, it seems like there are a lot more facts in.
I hope this guy gets a good lawyer.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I hope this guy gets a good lawyer.

It's hard to imagine a defense that would make a difference and be plausible. Even if he claims diminished responsibility due to drug-induced psychosis it's not going to put much of a dent in the charges against him. You don't get a do-over for failing to bring down an airplane.

 

[Matthew H Fish]

It's hard to imagine a defense that would make a difference and be plausible. Even if he claims diminished responsibility due to drug-induced psychosis it's not going to put much of a dent in the charges against him. You don't get a do-over for failing to bring down an airplane.

Well, that is an ironic statement given your username!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Well, that is an ironic statement given your username!

It's entirely possible to find a sympathetic way to tell his story, but he picked the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong jurisdiction to act on his impulses. When you try to bring down a commercial airplane you either succeed or you go away for a very long time, probably forever.