The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating United Airlines in light of a video shared on social media that appears to show passengers in the cockpit of a Boeing 757 flying at over 30,000 feet.
United Airlines has expressed serious concerns about the footage and confirmed that two of its pilots have been removed from duty while it investigates the incident.
“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 Airlines said in a statement.
The airline added: “As a clear violation of our safety and operational policies, we’ve reported the incident to the FAA and have withheld the pilots from service while we conduct an investigation.”
According to CNN, the footage was taken during a flight chartered by the Colorado Rockies baseball team on April 10, 2024, between Denver Airport (DEN) and Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) in Canada.
In the video, the cockpit door is seen open as a man sits in the captain’s seat next to the first officer.
A woman is filming the interaction while joking with the man in the captain’s seat about landing the aircraft.
A fourth person, who appears to be another passenger, then enters the flightdeck.
It is against both United Airlines rules and FAA regulations for unauthorized people to enter the cockpit during flight.
The incident comes at a time when the FAA is already increasing its scrutiny of United Airlines following a spike in safety incidents over recent weeks.
In a request from CNN to the FAA for comment about the latest incident, the agency said it could not comment on open investigations.
“Federal regulations restrict flight deck access to specific individuals,” the FAA remarked.