A teenage passenger allegedly tried to storm the cockpit on a cross country Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month.
According to an affidavit filed by Federal Air Marshal Thomas G. Pattinson, 19-year-old Nathan Jones got out of his seat and tried to open the cockpit door three separate times during a March 3 flight from San Diego to Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
Flight attendants “requested the assistance of off-duty law enforcement officers, who restrained Jones in flex cuffs and sat on either side of him for the remainder of the flight,” Pattinson reported.
The cockpit door was blocked by a beverage cart and a flight attendant stood guard until they safely landed.
Jones, a student pilot, told flight attendants he was “testing them” when asked to explain his dangerous actions, according to the affidavit.
He was arrested and has since been charged with alleged interference with a flight crew, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.
After the plane landed, investigators found “multiple notebooks with writings describing how to operate an aircraft, including take-off, in-air and landing techniques,” Pattinson wrote in the affidavit.
The incident remains under investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Last year, Joseph Emerson, an off-duty pilot sitting in the cockpit’s jump seat, allegedly tried to cut off the plane’s fuel and shut down the engines by turning on the fire suppression system during an Alaska Airlines flight. He now faces multiple state and federal charges.
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