A Montana woman has pleaded guilty to lunging at the controls of Cape Air Cessna 402 just as it was landing at Havre Airport on March 21, 2023 and very nearly causing it to crash. Tracy Lynn Eagleman, 36, of Havre will be sentenced in December and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She's being held in jail until the sentencing. According to a Department of Justice news release, Eagleman became agitated as the plane approached Havre but the pilots were able to calm her. Just as the plane touched down, Eagleman lunged toward the flight deck and pushed full throttle on one of the engines.
Astronauts undergo extensive mental evaluation before being selected for space flight. Yet there are only 3-5 aboard. One lunatic can kill 400 people on a plane, yet they allow anyone on board. Are we fast approaching a time when a few people are going to paralyze society because we canât filter them out of our legitimate activities?
Do they carry a two person crew on that 402? I thought the article said âpilotsâ. A few years ago, I was giving a flight review to a retired FedEx Capt friend of mine in his Aztec. Of course he far exceeded my abilities. But, about a week later, he fell over dead from a massive heart attack while sitting in his truck. I always wondered had he done it on final, would I have realized and reacted in time to avoid hitting the ground. Ya never know.
Astronauts are not paying customers, but part of a crew so your point is unclear. âYet they allow anyone on boardââŚwell, how would you go about vetting every paying customer? We already complain about the physical security measures but now you would like to introduceâŚmental security?
Phycological interviews? Questionnaires? or the good olâ âShe dun look funnyâ approach that would be oh so accurate (/s).
To be blunt, you cannot screen for potential, Minority Report is just SciFi so instead, you go with the idea that most people are not crazy, that crews are trained to deal with the few, passengers are more likely to get involved, and life goes on.
Planes flew a few days after 9/11 and they quickly filled. I flew three weeks after and knew that if any crazy person stood and threatened the flight, 80+ people would do what ever to stop it because we now knew, negotiation was deadâŚthat was/is better then any TSA screening.
If you still worry, fly private or drive, but keep in mind that the driver next to you may go bonkers, but their wonât be anyone stopping them slamming into your car.
Iâm inclined to think, given the number of incident-free flights every year, that two incredibly outlier episodes is not a trend, itâs statistical noise. There will always be an unstable person on board some flight, somewhere, sometime, but the odds of them causing a crash are still vanishingly small. There is no test for âfitness to flyâ that can be administered at the gate, so vigilance and quick crew reactions are the fail-safe. Iâd hate to see the FAA mandate a cargo-net barrier behind Cessna 402 cockpits as a result of this incident. 'Cause you know if theyâre going to require it for them, they wonât be able to justify not mandating it for C172sâŚ
It was a sarcastic comment. No need to take it seriously. To your point though, there ARE paying customers on space flights. Youâd be kidding yourself if you think they didnât look at their mental stability.
Iâve flown on Cape Air 402âs many times from Boston to Provincetown. Always enjoyed riding as a passenger in the right co-pilotâs seat. Those flights are single pilot. Wonder if this latest incident will mean no more passengers in the right seat.
Iâve taken to driving where possible, within reason. Despite having Global Entry/TSA PreCheck, itâs just such a hassle and by the time you deal with the luggage, security, trying to bring a firearm, boarding lines and car rentals/transportation, itâs just easier and as fast to drive.
I agree. There will always be nutbars out there and short of plugging in every passenger to an rs232 port in the dystopian future and scanning for idiocy we just have to live with it. When we finally design a foolproof agenda to remove these folks from flights, the world will develop a better fool.
The US stopped hijackings in the 1970s by quizzing passengers before boarding.
El Al has been quite successful quizzing passengers before boarding (in one case screener checked bag of a single woman going to vacation in Israel, found a bomb that her boyfriend had planted to eliminate his pregnancy problem). The screener somehow thought something didnât add up even though she was innocent (perhaps going on vacation without boyfriend seemed unusual).
As for September 11, 2001, FBI botched: local agents told HQ of a person who insisted on only practising maneuvering not takeoff and landing, but HQ did not act. Local agents jailed the person, so one flight had one less hijacker than the others.
No worries though if meant as sarcasm, try using /s to let folks really know otherwise it is hard at times to know. Had you put a /s I would have smiled at the viewpoint and maybe posted sardonically instead.
You are correct that now there are paying customers though how thoroughly they are vetted before the flight is an open question. I was thinking more old school when those who went to space did so as part of their job.
Years from now it may be like it is today with aviation, the unwashed masses flying in the unfriendly vacuum of space. Hopefully a little harder to âopen the doorâ
Start by not serving booze in terminals.
I presume security screeners check for bottles in carryon baggage as they check for liquids.
(Booze releases inhibitions to subconsciously held desires.)
And there are other intoxicants that lead to craziness, harder to detect but police have methods of checking for intoxication after a pullover or crash.
(Marijuana puffing can be smelled, I gather.
Saanich BC police smelled it on a womanâs breath after stopping her speeding in a school one, she had just dropped children off - after she and other âmothersâ celebrated brats going to back to school by inhaling,)
I flew 402âs for a tour company many years ago. We flew single pilot unless the weather was IFR. That didnât happen often. If conducting a tour why bother if you canât see anything?
Also, we flew two routes. One allowed someone in the Copilot seat but the other did not. Decision up to the local FAA FSDO, I suppose.
