An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to divert after one of its pilots made a shocking confession to the passengers and crew. Cowboy State Journal and a Reddit post from a user who claimed to have been on the ill-fated flight.
Alaska Airlines and SkyWest Flight 3491 took off ahead of schedule from San Francisco and was headed to Jackson Hole International Airport (JAC) in Jackson Hole, WY. The twin-jet Embraer ERJ 175 aircraft approached JAC but for some reason never landed.
The Reddit user claimed that one of the pilots gave an incredible reason for the diversion. “Hey, I'm really sorry guys,” the pilot allegedly said over the public address system, “but I don't have the proper clearance to land in Jackson Hole so we have to divert to Salt Lake City Utah. We'll keep you posted on the next steps.”
The jet made a full circuit around the airport before flying about 300 miles to Salt Lake City, where it landed safely. Once the plane docked, the unqualified pilot did the “walk of shame” past all the passengers to retrieve his bag from the back of the plane.
Although the passengers thought that would be the end of their troubles, they were surprised to learn that it would take another 90 minutes to find a qualified pilot to fly them back to their destination. The plane finally returned to Jackson Hole just before 3 p.m., nearly three hours after it was supposed to land.
In a statement the organization described as a “somewhat convoluted explanation,” SkyWest said: Cowboy State Journal It was stated that the incident on Flight 3491 occurred due to a “paperwork error”.
“[The aircraft] “The flight briefly landed in Salt Lake City to correct a paperwork error with the flight crew,” the airline reported. “The flight continued to Jackson Hole after a delay until a new pilot could be found to operate the flight. All pilots involved were qualified to fly and land the aircraft; the flight departed Jackson Hole due to an internal administrative error and an abundance of caution.”
Apparently, JAC is a particularly difficult airport to land at. In 1990, the airport gained the Special PIC (Pilot in Command) qualification, which requires a “more experienced line control pilot” to sit as co-pilot. Each airline has its own parameters for how much flight time is required for a pilot to qualify to perform a Special PIC landing. Even highly experienced pilots with thousands of hours of flying experience may not meet some airlines' minimum requirements.
None of the passengers on Flight 3491 reported receiving any compensation for the delay.