Flight Diverted Before Landing After Pilot's Shocking Admission to Passengers

An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make a diversion after one of its pilots made a shocking admission to passengers and crew, according to multiple witnesses who spoke with Cowboy State Daily and a Reddit post from a user claiming to be present on the ill-fated flight.

Alaska Airlines and SkyWest Flight 3491 left San Francisco ahead of schedule and was making its way to the 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 one of the pilots gave an unbelievable reason for the diversion. “Hey, I’m really sorry folks,” the pilot allegedly said over the P.A. system, “but due to me not having the proper qualification to land in Jackson Hole, we need to divert to Salt Lake City Utah. We’ll keep you posted on the next steps.”

The jet proceeded to do a full circle around the airport before flying the almost 300 miles to Salt Lake City, where it safely landed. Once the plane was docked, the unqualified pilot did a “walk of shame” past all of the passengers to retrieve his bag from the back of the aircraft.

Though the passengers figured that would be the end of their troubles, they were astonished to find it would be another 90 minutes before a qualified pilot was found to fly them back to their intended destination. The plane eventually arrived back in Jackson Hole just before 3 p.m., about three hours after it was due to land.

In what the outlet described as a “somewhat convoluted explanation,” SkyWest told Cowboy State Daily that the incident aboard Flight 3491 was due to “a paperwork error.”

“[The aircraft] landed for a short time in Salt Lake City to correct a paperwork error related to the flight crew,” the airline reported. “The flight continued to Jackson Hole after a delay while a new pilot was secured to operate the flight. All pilots involved were qualified to fly and land the aircraft; the flight diverted from Jackson Hole due to an internal administrative error and out of abundance of caution.”

As it turns out, JAC is a particularly difficult airport at which to land. In 1990, the airport earned a Special PIC (Pilot In Command) qualification which requires that “a more experienced line check airman” be sitting copilot. Each individual airline has its own parameters in regards to how much flight time qualifies a pilot to make a Special PIC landing. Even highly experienced pilots with thousands of hours of flying may not be able to meet the minimum requirement of some airlines.

None of the passengers on Flight 3491 have reported receiving any compensation for the delay.