A federal judge on Monday ruled there would be no prison time for a former Alaska Airlines pilot who had taken psychedelic mushrooms days before he tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Many people have lost friends and loved ones.

    That doesn’t justify trying to take down an aircraft. I don’t know why, and don’t really care. He recklessly endangered the lives of everyone on that flight.

    If an otherwise normal-joe had done this, they’d be buried under the prison.

    If this was genuinely a mental illness, he can spend some time at a psychiatric facility. But he should get more time than any number of stupid infractions.

    Btw, cali law, you can get your records expunged after 2 years if completing sentencing. His life is far from “over”.

    • MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      That doesn’t justify trying to take down an aircraft.

      Not sure anyone is trying to justify that.

      Prosecution was only asking for a year. Because this is different than an aggressive passenger storming the cockpit to grab the controls, which is impossible these days. This guy is being punished for making the stupid decision to get on a flight without sleeping for 40 hours. Hallucinations from sleep deprivation are real.