Ex-Southwest Airlines pilot sentenced for lewd act on flight
A Southwest Airlines pilot was sentenced to probation Friday after
pleading guilty to exposing his genitals to a female first officer and watching pornography on a laptop during a flight from Philadelphia to Florida last year. Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of probation without requiring Haak to register as a sex offender. Michael Haak, 60, apologized and expressed remorse for his actions before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation and a $5,000 fine.
Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Haak had never met the first officer before that flight bound for Orlando on Aug. 10, 2020. After the plane reached its cruising altitude, Haak got out of the pilot’s seat, “disrobed” and began watching pornographic material on a laptop computer in the cockpit, prosecutors said.
“As the plane continued its flight, Haak further engaged in inappropriate conduct in the cockpit, as the first officer continued to perform her duties as an assigned aircrew member,” the statement says.The first officer submitted a statement to the court but didn’t speak during Friday's hearing. The judge told Haak that his actions had a traumatic effect on the co-pilot and could have impacted the safety of passengers and other co-workers.
Haak, a resident of Longwood, Florida, was a Southwest Airlines pilot for 27 years until his retirement. His last flight for the Dallas-based airline was on Aug. 31, 2020, three weeks after the incident that led to the criminal charge. Defense attorney Michael Salnick said Haak received numerous accolades and supportive letters from passengers and colleagues, including one from
Southwest chairman and CEO Gary Kelly on the day of Haak's retirement.
“We are blessed that Southwest has been your home for so many years," Kelly wrote.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article251758768.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
