{"id":13749,"date":"2024-12-15T17:38:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T14:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/?p=13749"},"modified":"2024-12-15T17:38:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T14:38:58","slug":"alaska-airlines-passenger-tries-to-open-cockpit-door-mid-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/alaska-airlines-passenger-tries-to-open-cockpit-door-mid-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska Airlines passenger tries to open cockpit door mid air"},"content":{"rendered":"

A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight this month repeatedly tried to open the cockpit door, prompting flight attendants to barricade the door and have the man restrained until landing, court documents filed in federal court allege.<\/span>
\nThe passenger, Nathan Jones, has been charged with interfering with a flight crew during the March 3 flight from San Diego to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in US district court in Virginia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones got up from his seat several times during the flight and made three attempts to go to the front of the plane and open the cockpit door, an air marshal wrote in an affidavit. Flight attendants then asked off-duty law enforcement officers for help, and the officers \u201crestrained Jones in flex cuffs and sat on either side of him\u201d for the rest of the flight, the affidavit reads.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a flight attendant asked why he tried to access the cockpit, Jones replied that he \u201cwas testing them,\u201d the affidavit reads.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cockpit was locked down and barricaded with a beverage cart for the remainder of the flight, according to the affidavit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The passenger had tried to access the cockpit in a \u201cnonviolent manner\u201d and \u201cappeared confused,\u201d Alaska Airlines said on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The passenger was arrested and has been banned from flying with the airline, the company said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside Jones\u2019 luggage, law enforcement found a student pilot\u2019s license and several notebooks \u201cwith writings describing how to operate an aircraft, including take-off, in-air, and landing techniques,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how much flight training Jones has received. For US citizens, a student certificate requires only a medical exam and a sign-off from a certified flight instructor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The flight landed safely, and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, the FAA said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The incident happened against the backdrop of several flight incidents and reports of unruly passengers in recent months \u2013 including a plug door blowing off an Alaska Airlines plane during flight and five smaller incidents reported by United Airlines in a seven-day span this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 family is \u201cdevastated by the allegations\u201d against him and \u201cgravely concerned about his mental health,\u201d his attorney, Robert Jenkins, said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe behavior described in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint are inconsistent with this young man\u2019s life,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cWe have requested that he undergo a court-ordered competency evaluation. We remain hopeful that Mr. Jones can receive the medical help he appears to need.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jenkins filed a motion Wednesday requesting an evaluation to determine whether Jones is competent to stand trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The motion included a letter from Anne Zalewski, a therapist who works for the city of Alexandria, Virginia, where Jones was detained in jail. Jones has displayed \u201csymptoms indicative of a serious mental illness\u201d while at the jail and \u201cneeds a hospital level of care to stabilize his altered mental status,\u201d the letter from Zalewski reads.<\/span><\/p>\n

A detention hearing for Jones is scheduled for Monday. If convicted on the flight interference charge, he could face up to 20 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight this month repeatedly tried to open the cockpit door, prompting flight attendants to barricade the door and have the man restrained until landing, court documents filed in federal court allege. The passenger, Nathan Jones, has been charged with interfering with a flight crew during the March 3 flight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2332],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pej6K6-3zL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-content\/uploads\/cockpit-door-magaripoa.jpg?fit=1210%2C700&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}