Alaska Airlines passenger in court for trying to open cockpit door

The passenger, Nathan Jones, has been charged with interfering with a flight crew during the March 3 flight from San Diego to Dulles International Airport in Virginia, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in US district court in Virginia.

Jones got up from his seat several times during the flight and made three attempts to go to the front of the plane and open the cockpit door, an air marshal wrote in an affidavit. Flight attendants then asked off-duty law enforcement officers for help, and the officers “restrained Jones in flex cuffs and sat on either side of him” for the rest of the flight, the affidavit reads.

When a flight attendant asked why he tried to access the cockpit, Jones replied that he “was testing them,” the affidavit reads.

The cockpit was locked down and barricaded with a beverage cart for the remainder of the flight, according to the affidavit.

The passenger had tried to access the cockpit in a “nonviolent manner” and “appeared confused,” Alaska Airlines said on Wednesday.

The passenger was arrested and has been banned from flying with the airline, the company said.

Inside Jones’ luggage, law enforcement found a student pilot’s license and several notebooks “with writings describing how to operate an aircraft, including take-off, in-air, and landing techniques,” according to the affidavit.

It’s unclear how much flight training Jones has received. For US citizens, a student certificate requires only a medical exam and a sign-off from a certified flight instructor.

The flight landed safely, and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, the FAA said.

The incident happened against the backdrop of several flight incidents and reports of unruly passengers in recent months – including a plug door blowing off an Alaska Airlines plane during flight and five smaller incidents reported by United Airlines in a seven-day span this month.

Jones’ family is “devastated by the allegations” against him and “gravely concerned about his mental health,” his attorney, Robert Jenkins, said.

“The behavior described in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint are inconsistent with this young man’s life,” Jenkins said. “We have requested that he undergo a court-ordered competency evaluation. We remain hopeful that Mr. Jones can receive the medical help he appears to need.”

Jenkins filed a motion Wednesday requesting an evaluation to determine whether Jones is competent to stand trial.

The motion included a letter from Anne Zalewski, a therapist who works for the city of Alexandria, Virginia, where Jones was detained in jail. Jones has displayed “symptoms indicative of a serious mental illness” while at the jail and “needs a hospital level of care to stabilize his altered mental status,” the letter from Zalewski reads.

A detention hearing for Jones is scheduled for Monday. If convicted on the flight interference charge, he could face up to 20 years in prison.