Jonathan Dunn, a former Delta Airways co-pilot, was indicted by a Utah grand jury on October 18 after threatening to shoot the captain on an August 2022 flight that was set to be diverted on account of a passenger with a medical situation.
“Dunn was approved to hold a firearm by the Transportation Safety Administration’s Federal Flight Deck Officer program,” the Division of Transportation Workplace of Inspector Common confirmed on Tuesday. “After a disagreement a couple of potential flight diversion on account of a passenger medical occasion, Dunn advised the Captain they’d be shot a number of instances if the Captain diverted the flight.”
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The TSA FFDO program was created in 2002 after the assaults of September 11, 2001, and permits certified pilots to “use firearms to defend in opposition to an act of prison violence and air piracy whereas making an attempt to achieve management of an plane.”
Which means that pilots in this system are permitted to hold TSA-approved weaponry to arm themselves within the cockpit throughout flights ought to there be an tried hijacking or prison takeover of the flight.
TSA confirmed to CBS that Dunn is not part of the FFDO program, although extra particulars weren’t given concerning the case at the moment.
Delta didn’t instantly reply to Entrepreneur’s request for remark.
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