Video surfaced this week that appears to show Rockies hitting coach Hensley Meulens sitting in a pilot's seat while the
He can be seen and heard on the video joking with other people in the cockpit — including a person in a pilot's uniform and at least one other person who does not appear to be an airline employee — and says the plane is at 35,000 feet (10,670 meters).
“Flying the plane, here to Toronto,” Meulens says as he gestures toward the person in uniform sitting next to him.
“I'm going to land the plane tonight. So relax,” he says. He then reaches toward the flight controls and pretends to take hold, saying, “I just press this button ... and it goes down.”
Meulens posted the video on social media and later deleted it, but it had already gone viral and was reposted,
“Bam-Bam, he apologized,” Black said. “I can’t comment really any further because of what is being called an investigation of the matter. As far as Bam-Bam goes, he apologized to the Rockies, apologized to United, apologized to the team.”
United has suffered a series of problems in recent weeks including a piece of aluminum skin falling off a plane, a tire dropping off another during takeoff, and an engine fire. The
A United spokesperson said the airline was conducting its own investigation of the
“We’re deeply disturbed by what we see in that video, which appears to show an unauthorized person in the flight deck at cruise altitude while the autopilot was engaged,” United spokesperson
The pilots on the flight have been withheld from service while the airline investigates, Carlton said.
“Federal regulations restrict flight deck access to specific individuals,” he said.
The cockpit visit was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Major
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