L’incident took place in August 2022 on a domestic flight of Delta Air Lines : disagreeing about a diversion, the co-pilot, who was equipped with a firearmthreatened to shoot his captain.
The captain wanted to divert the plane to evacuate a sick passenger, but the co-pilot did not agree with this decision. “They disagreed on what to do about rerouting the flight due to a medical issue in a passenger, the co-pilot told the captain he would shoot him multiple times if he changed the flight route», Explained the American Department of Transportation in a press release about this news item.
On this Delta Air Lines flight, the co-pilot was in legal possession of a firearm within the scope of the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO). Adopted in the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001, this system authorizes certain airline pilots to carry weapons on board to fight against possible terrorists or criminals.
Now fired, the co-pilot, identified as Jonathan Dunn, is charged by American justice. According to the indictment, he allegedly “assaulted and intimidated a crew member, interfering with the performance of the crew’s duties and affecting their ability to carry out those duties, and allegedly used a dangerous weapon in assaulting and intimidating the crew members“.
According to court documents relayed by CBS News and reported by Le Figaro, Jonathan Dunn would have joined the US Air Force in 2003. He would have, during his active military service, carried out two combat missions in Afghanistan. In 2014, he reportedly left the US Air Force to become an airline pilot at Delta Air Lines.
