His last flight for the Dallas-based airline was on Aug. Haak, a resident of Longwood, Fla., was a Southwest Airlines pilot for 27 years until his retirement. The judge wasn’t bound by that recommendation. He was charged in Maryland because it was one of the states that the aircraft passed over that day.įederal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of probation without requiring Haak to register as a sex offender. Haak was charged in April with intentionally committing a lewd, indecent, or obscene act in a public place, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail. She had a right not to be subjected to this kind of behaviour, regardless of what may have motivated it or prompted it.” Haak “had a duty to comport himself in a much more responsible manner,” Assistant US Attorney Michael Cunningham said, adding, “This is not the kind of aberrant behaviour that anyone should accept.
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. The first officer submitted a statement to the court but didn’t speak during the hearing. 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, they said, adding, “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.” I never imagined it would turn into this in a thousand years.”įederal prosecutors said that Haak had never met the first officer before that flight bound for Orlando on Aug.
Michael Haak, who was fined US$5,000 and sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to the charge, apologized and expressed remorse for his actions before a magistrate, stating, “It started as a consensual prank between me and the other pilot. A now-retired Southwest Airlines pilot has been found guilty of taking his place of work too literally after exposing his genitals to a female first officer and watching pornography on a laptop during a flight from Philadelphia to Florida last year.
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