Quarreling pilots turn plane around at Dulles, necessitating a crew swap

An Alaska Airlines flight this week from Washington to San Francisco was delayed due to a spat between the two pilots.

After a delay of more than an hour and a half due to a storm, the plane made it onto the runway at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, but turned around and returned to the gate instead of taking off.

From there, one of the pilots walked off the plane, announcing to passengers that it was due to “a failure to get along” and that he was exiting the aircraft in the “interest of safety,” according to travel website One Mile at a Time.

Passengers and flight attendants were perplexed, and Alaska Airlines was forced to scramble to find a replacement pilot.

An employee originally scheduled to work on a flight to Los Angeles was swiftly rostered onto the plane, according to One Mile at a Time.
The plane eventually landed in San Francisco 2½ hours later than originally scheduled.

hey @AlaskaAir after being on a plane waiting out a storm for 2 hrs (AS1080) your pilots just pulled back to the gate and got off the plane because of a “failure to get along.” incredibly unprofessional. flight attendants are doing their best and have no idea what’s going on.

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“While this situation was unfortunate, in the interest of safety, the pilots did the right thing. Both the captain and the first officer were evaluated by management, and it was determined they remained fit to fly,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement to Fox Business.