A pilot on an Alaska Airlines flight operated by regional airline SkyWest allegedly admitted during a Wyoming-bound flight he lacked the necessary qualifications to land the aircraft. The pilot reportedly confessed from the cockpit he was unable to land the plane at its destination, as the twin jet Embraer ERJ 175, which departed from San Francisco, CA, approached Jackson Hole Airport (JAC), according to the Cowboy State Daily. Alaska Airlines/SkyWest flight 3491 was then diverted and landed safely — though delayed more than three hours — in Salt Lake City, UT, per the New York Post. The unqualified pilot was then replaced by another one, per the Cowboy State Daily. The outlet reported JAC is 6,500 feet above sea level, and requires a Special PIC (pilot in command) qualification and a SAAT level 4 rating from the pilot — requiring more experienced crew. Therefore it could be that the pilot, who landed the plane in Utah, was not senior enough to do the advanced landing at JAC. JAC Airport Director Jim Elwood told the publication each airline has its own custom training programs and pilot certification protocol.SkyWest however told the Cowboy State Daily the flight was diverted due to a lack of “correct paperwork.”“(Flight 3491) landed for a short time in Salt Lake City to correct a paperwork error related to the flight crew,” wrote the airline. “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.”A post on Reddit by babecityrecords, who was allegedly on the flight, had a different story. “Something VERY weird happened on our Alaska flight yesterday: our pilot was unqualified to land??” wrote the user, explaining passengers were informed of the diversion and instructed to prepare for an unplanned early descent. “Hey, I’m really sorry folks 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 pilot said, according to the Reddit user. “We then landed in Salt Lake City, they again apologized and gave us no other info, waited on the tarmac for about 1.5 hours, and then the pilot got off the plane (in a walk of shame since his bag was in the overhead in the back of the plane lol) and then a new pilot from Salt Lake City got on the plane and we flew into Jackson,” the user wrote. “The bumpiest landing in the descent I’ve ever experienced.”“My guess is that the pilots were recently qualified to land at JAC (because they would not be allowed to fly the route otherwise — regulations would have triggered a crew swap), but they felt that they were not experienced/confident to deal with the winds or another condition that day,” one Reddit user said. “Therefore that made the pilots decide to abort the landing and err on the safe side. This shows the system of checks/balances and communication with ATC works — this should make you less nervous about flying in the future. Your quote [about the bumpy landing]… would support my suspicions.”
