Jonathan Dunn, a former Delta Airways co-pilot, was indicted by a Utah grand jury on Oct. 18 after he threatened to shoot the captain on an August 2022 flight that was scheduled to be diverted due to a passenger with a medical situation.
“Dunn was licensed to hold a firearm by way of the Federal Safety Administration’s Deck Security Program,” the Transportation Division’s Workplace of the Inspector Normal confirmed Tuesday. “After a disagreement about doubtlessly diverting the flight resulting from a passenger’s medical occasion, Dunn instructed the captain that they might be shot a number of occasions if the captain diverted the flight.”
Associated: Off-duty pilot had ‘malfunction’ when attempting to close down engine
The TSA FFDO program was created in 2002 after the assaults of September 11, 2001, and permits certified pilots to “use a firearm to defend in opposition to acts of prison violence and air piracy whereas making an attempt to take management of an plane.”
Meaning pilots in this system are allowed to hold TSA-approved weapons to arm themselves within the cockpit throughout flights within the occasion of an tried hijacking or prison takeover of the flight.
The TSA confirmed to CBS that Dunn is now not a part of the FFDO program, though no additional particulars concerning the case have been obtainable presently.
Delta didn’t instantly reply Entrepreneur’s request for remark.
Associated: Airplane Crashes From Crowded Seaside, Rescuers Rescue Pilot