An off-duty pilot who was in a jump seat in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight on Sunday has been charged with more than 80 counts of attempted murder after he tried to disrupt the engines, prompting the plane to divert to Portland, Ore., the authorities said.
Flight 2059, operated by Horizon Airlines, an Alaska Airlines regional subsidiary, left Everett, Wash., around 5:23 p.m. and was headed to San Francisco when it reported “a credible security threat related to an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who was traveling in the flight deck jump seat,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement on Monday.
“The jump seat occupant unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines,” Alaska Airlines said in the statement, adding that the captain and first officer “quickly responded, engine power was not lost and the crew secured the aircraft without incident.”A pilot told an air traffic controller that the man had tried to cut the plane’s engines, according to an audio recording posted on LiveATC.net, which shares live and archived recordings of air-traffic-control radio transmissions.
Persons:
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Organizations:
Alaska Airlines, Horizon Airlines, Alaska Airlines regional
Locations:
Portland, Everett, Wash, San Francisco