Okay, I want to start out by saying, no, this doesn't seem to be connected to global events, the FAA says as much. It's just a random case where an off-duty pilot went cuckoo.
This guy was apparently sitting in the jump seat in the cockpit, a seat reserved for authorized personnel, when at some point he made an attempt to disrupt the engines.
Crazy. Like, who does this kind of thing, and why does it seem like we're seeing more of it as the years go by? People are on edge, man, and I don't like it.
This flight was traveling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, but had to be diverted to Portland after the issue arose. It sounds as if the pilot and his co-pilot were able to deescalate the situation with ease, and sort of just threw the guy out of the cockpit where he then sat quietly in coach. I'm sure there's more to the story, but that's all I got for ya. The dude was probably depressed both because he failed and because he was already depressed (or else why do such a thing?). So he just sat there and waited to be taken away by police in Portland.
Here's audio from the cockpit after our loon was escorted out:
They seem pretty calm about it, which hopefully speaks to how great of a job they did with their deescalation efforts.
As for the attempted hijacker, Joseph Emerson, he faces 83 counts of attempted murder along with 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft. He'll never fly a plane again, and hopefully never ride in one either.
The FBI is investigating the event and says there is no further threat concerning this incident. The FAA tells us the incident is "not connected in any way shape or form to current world events," which seems, I dunno, odd.
Scary times we live in, folks.
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