A plane passenger opens up about an alleged recent flight experience in which they claim the pilot said he was not qualified to land the plane they were on.
The passenger explained that they were traveling from Portland, Oregon to Jackson Hole, Wyo., with a layover in San Francisco on Thursday, August 8, according to their retelling of the incident on Reddit. According to passengers, the aircraft began its descent into Jackson Hole when the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker.
“Hey, I’m really sorry guys, but because I’m not qualified to land in Jackson Hole, we have to divert to Salt Lake City Utah. We’ll keep you posted on the next steps,” he reportedly said, according to the passenger.
The passenger claims that after the plane landed in Salt Lake City, the pilot left the plane “in a walk of shame” and a new pilot came in to fly.
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Alaska SkyWest plane photo.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC
In his account, the Reddit user said they were flying on Alaska Airlines. However, the airline confirmed that it was a SkyWest Airlines flight. In a statement shared with PEOPLE, SkyWest clarified what actually happened and emphasized that the pilot was actually qualified to land the plane.
“On Thursday, August 8, SkyWest Airlines Flight 3491, operating as Alaska Airlines from San Francisco to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, made a brief landing in Salt Lake City to correct a paperwork error involving the flight crew,” he said. airline. in the statement.
They confirmed that the flight continued its journey after “a new pilot was secured to operate the flight”.
“All the pilots involved were qualified to fly and land the aircraft; the flight was diverted from Jackson Hole due to an internal administrative error and out of an abundance of caution,” the statement continued. “We apologize to customers for the inconvenience and are conducting an internal review to ensure a similar situation does not occur in the future.”
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Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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A Reddit user claims passengers were left in the dark as to why the flight needed a new pilot. In their announcement, they question a series of events and express that the airline’s transparency would be welcome.
“All in all we landed about 3 hours later than we should have, due to an unqualified pilot?” they asked, adding that it was “perhaps the roughest landing” they had ever experienced.
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Pilots who operate the aircraft.
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Meanwhile, other users have flooded the post with their own theories about what could have happened — but none seem to match what the airline says actually happened.
“My guess is that the pilots were recently qualified to land in a JAC (as they wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to fly the route — the regulations would trigger a crew change) but felt they weren’t experienced/confident in dealing with the winds or other conditions that day ” one wrote.
Another added: “I think it’s more likely that the captain didn’t meet the ‘special airport’ requirements for JAC, but it wasn’t discovered until after take-off (probably by dispatchers). There are usually systems in place to track these things, but occasionally they still fall through the cracks.”
One user then recalled a recent incident that happened to them where they claimed a flight was delayed because “the pilot was qualified to fly over the Atlantic but not over the Pacific.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education