Plane passenger claims pilot said he was not ‘properly qualified’ to land plane

An airplane passenger has recounted a recent alleged flight experience in which they claim the pilot said he was not qualified to land the plane they were traveling on.

The traveler recounted the incident on Reddit, explaining that they were traveling from Portland, Oregon to Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Thursday, August 8, with a stopover in San Francisco. According to the passenger, the plane was beginning its descent into Jackson Hole and the pilot made the announcement over the loudspeaker.

“Hey, I’m really sorry, guys, but since I don’t have the proper credentials to land in Jackson Hole, we need to fly to Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ll keep you updated on what’s next,” he allegedly said , every traveler.

The passenger claimed that after the plane landed in Salt Lake City, the pilot left the plane in “shame” and a new pilot took over.

The Reddit user stated on their account that they were flying Alaska Airlines. However, the airline confirmed it was a SkyWest flight. In a statement shared with People, SkyWest clarified what exactly happened and stressed that the pilot was in fact qualified to land the plane.

“On Thursday, August 8, SkyWest Flight 3491 (operating as Alaska Airlines from San Francisco to Jackson Hole, Wyoming) briefly landed in Salt Lake City to correct crew-related paperwork,” the airline said. mistake.

They confirmed that the flight continued after “a new pilot was identified to operate the flight.”

“All pilots involved were qualified to fly and land the aircraft; due to an internal management error and out of an abundance of caution, the flight was diverted from Jackson Hole,” the statement continued. “We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and are conducting an internal review to ensure a similar situation does not occur in the future.”

The Reddit user claimed that passengers were left in the dark as to why the flight needed a new pilot. In the post, they questioned the series of events and said they hoped the airline would maintain transparency.

“In total, we landed about three hours later than planned because the pilot was unqualified?” they questioned, adding that it was “probably the bumpiest landing they’ve ever experienced.”

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Meanwhile, other users posted their own theories about what might have happened, but none seemed to match what the airline said actually happened.

“My guess is that the pilots were recently qualified to land at JAC (because otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to fly that route – the regulations would trigger a crew swap), but they felt they didn’t have the experience/confidence to deal with the wind that day or whatever. situation,” one wrote.

Another added, “I think it’s more likely that the captain didn’t meet JAC’s ‘special airport’ requirements, but found out after takeoff (possibly by the dispatcher). There are usually systems in place to track these things, But sometimes they do get ignored.

One user then recalled a recent incident that happened to them where they claimed their flight was delayed because “the pilot was qualified to fly across the Atlantic but not the Pacific.”