Student pilot charged in federal court after trying to open cockpit on Alaska Airlines flight

A student pilot faces federal charges of interference with an Alaska Airlines crew flying from San Diego to Washington Dulles International Airport earlier this month.

In an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Transportation Security Administration federal Air Marshal Thomas Pattinson accused Nathan Jones, 19, of attempting to open the cockpit door on Alaska Airlines Flight 322 from San Diego to Dulles on March 3.

Mr. Jones left his seat and attempted to open the cockpit door three separate times, Mr. Pattinson alleged, before finally being restrained with flex cuffs by off-duty law enforcement officers at the behest of the crew.

Flight attendants also used a drink cart to block the cockpit, Mr. Pattinson said. 

“One of the flight attendants had to move from his assigned area in the back of the plane to the front of the plane to help assist other flight attendants … and one of the flight attendants remained with the beverage cart,” due to Mr. Jones’ alleged actions, Mr. Pattinson said.

When asked by flight attendants why he was trying to open the cockpit, Mr. Jones told them he was “testing them” according to the affidavit. 

The flight was able to land safely at Dulles at 3:31 p.m. on March 3, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

Upon landing in Dulles, Mr. Jones allowed a search of his carry-on and checked luggage, revealing notebooks on operating an airplane as well as a wallet containing his student pilot’s license.

The Federal Aviation Administration told The New York Times that the crew had reported the alleged “passenger disturbance” and that it was investigating further.

In a statement Wednesday to NBC News, Alaska Airlines said, “The passenger was noncompliant, which prompted our flight crew to enlist off-duty law enforcement officers to help restrain him. … The passenger was arrested by local law enforcement and has been banned from traveling with us.”

If Mr. Jones is convicted on the single felony count of interference with a flight crew, he faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

His attorney, Robert Jenkins Jr. of the Bynum & Jenkins law firm in Virginia, filed a mental competency evaluation Wednesday, looking to show that Mr. Jones is not fit to stand trial.

“The allegations are completely inconsistent with the life he has lived. He is a young man without any history of criminal conduct or violence. At this stage we are acutely concerned with his mental health and are working to address his needs. We have confidence that at the end it will be clear that Mr. Jones never intended to harm or threaten anyone,” Mr. Jenkins said in a statement to CBS News.

Mr. Jones had flown to Alaska to visit his father and was returning to Virginia via San Diego, Mr. Jenkins told The New York Times.

In a letter in support of the filing for a mental evaluation, Anne Zalewski with the Alexandria Department of Community and Human Services said that Mr. Jones, being held at the Alexandria Detention Center, has been kept in suicide protocol for injuring himself, including banging his head, and for indicating he would keep harming himself.

“Mr. Jones has been restrained daily, sometimes several times a day. He displays incoherent speech, disorganized behavior, mood lability and appears to be experiencing psychosis,” Ms. Zalewski wrote.

She added that, in a meeting with a jail psychiatrist on Mar. 7, Mr. Jones could not consent to medication. The initial diagnosis of his condition, she said, is “Unspecified Schizophrenic Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorder.”

Mr. Jones will appear in court again Monday.