Pilot accused of threatening to shoot airline captain midflight calls it a misunderstanding
Attorneys clashed Thursday in a Utah courtroom over opposing characterizations of a fight between two commercial airline pilots in which the co-pilot allegedly threatened to shoot the captain.
SALT LAKE CITY — Attorneys clashed Thursday in a Utah courtroom over opposing characterizations of a fight between two commercial airline pilots in which the co-pilot allegedly threatened to shoot the captain for suggesting they divert the flight for a passenger’s medical emergency.
Former Delta Air Lines pilot Jonathan J. Dunn, 42, made his first federal court appearance Thursday in Salt Lake City after he was indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 18, 2023, and charged with interfering with a flight crew. His lawyer, John W. Huber, who was once Utah’s top federal prosecutor, tried to characterize the altercation as “a misunderstanding,” while prosecutors described it as a “grave offense.”
The heated argument had erupted in the cockpit of a 2022 flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, on which Dunn was the first officer, or co-pilot.
The captain, who is not named in court documents, had proposed diverting their commercial flight to Grand Junction, Colorado, if the passenger’s condition worsened, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges. Dunn objected and threatened multiple times to shoot the captain, whom he accused of “going crazy,” the documents state.
If convicted, Dunn could face up to 20 years in prison. Judge Jared C. Bennett set his trial date for March 12.
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