Pilot Indicted for Mid-Flight Threat

(AmericanProsperity.com) – The US Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General said in an October 31 press release that authorities indicted a Northern California pilot for threatening to shoot a flight’s captain. The pilot allegedly told him he was going to “kill him” if he diverted the flight because of a passenger’s medical issue.

The Delta Airlines pilot Jonathan Dunn was indicted on October 18. The incident took place on August 22, 2022, when he was the crew’s first officer. The indictment said that, after a heated argument with the captain about the flight diversion, Dunn also threatened to kill other passengers.

The indictment pointed out that Dunn was carrying a gun, as he was authorized by the Federal Flight Deck Officer program of the Transportation Security Administration. Different reports pointed out that the agency allows those who are part of the program to carry a firearm inside the plane, to protect the flight deck against air piracy or criminal violence. The Transportation Security Administration noted that Dunn was no longer part of the program, and said it will collaborate with authorities to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future.

In its press release, the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General announced it’s currently conducting an investigation with the Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI. It also pointed out that Dunn was no longer employed at Delta Airlines.

The news about Dunn’s criminal act came after authorities charged off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson with over 80 criminal counts of attempted murder. Different media outlets said that

Emerson tried to disable the aircraft’s engines during a flight from the state of Washington to San Francisco, California.
Emerson told police officers he consumed psychedelic mushrooms two days before the incident, as he said he was feeling depressed. He pointed out he was having a mental breakdown during the flight, and had no knowledge of what he did.