A former Delta pilot has been charged in relation to a disturbing incident in which he allegedly threatened to shoot the captain of his flight if he diverted the plane for a passenger’s medical issue.
California’s Jonathan J. Dunn, the first officer on an August 22, 2022, flight, has been indicted by a grand jury for interfering with the crew of a commercial airline flight, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General said in a news release.
While Dunn was “authorized” to carry a firearm through the Transportation Security Administration’s Federal Flight Deck Officer program, he “told the Captain they would be shot multiple times if the Captain diverted the flight,” the Inspector General’s statement said.
The threat came “after a disagreement about a potential flight diversion due to a passenger medical event,” the press release added.
While officials did not specify which airline Dunn was flying with or where the flight was headed to, a Delta Air Lines spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that he was working for them as a first officer at the time of the incident.
Delta also said that Dunn has since been terminated from the airline.
The indictment, obtained by the outlet on Tuesday, alleges that Dunn “did assault and intimidate a crew member of an aircraft…and did use a dangerous weapon in assaulting and intimidating the crew member.”
“TSA is aware of an incident involving a Federal Flight Deck Officer,” an administration spokesperson told CBS.
The agency noted that Dunn has been removed from the FFDO program which allowed him to bring a gun on domestic flights, but did not add further details due to the “pending investigation.”
Dunn’s arraignment is scheduled for November 16.
The news comes just a week after another shocking case involving a potentially violent pilot made headlines, with off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson being charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after he allegedly tried to shut down the plane’s engines.
As Breitbart News covered on October 25, investigators say Emerson attempted to cause the plane to crash while sitting in the cockpit of a flight from Washington state to San Francisco. Miraculously, the flight was diverted by the pilot and made a safe landing in Portland, Oregon, with more than 80 people on board.
The Associated Press reported:
The FBI affidavit said Emerson, who as an off-duty pilot was authorized to ride in the cockpit’s jump seat, made casual conversation with the captain and first officer when the plane was between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, before trying to grab two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
Emerson reportedly told investigators he had taken psychedelic mushrooms 48 hours before the incident, and that he had been depressed and had a mental breakdown. He pleaded not guilty last week.