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Home » Alaska Airlines » Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 Diverts After Passenger Threatens To Kill Flight Attendant
Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 Diverts After Passenger Threatens To Kill Flight Attendant

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 13, 2023November 13, 2023 22 Comments

a plane flying in the sky

A woman faces federal charges after threatening to kill a flight attendant onboard an Alaska Airlines redeye flight to Chicago.

Alaska Airlines Flight Diverts After Woman Threatens To Kill Flight Attendant

Alaska Airlines flight AS456 took off from San Francisco (SFO) on schedule on April 6, 2023 bound for Chicago (ORD). According to an affidavit included in the court filing, the following transpired onboard:

  • Chloe Dasilva, 32, was seated in 20D
  • Dasilva stood up during the safety briefing to ask, “When are we leaving?”
  • After takeoff, she retreated to the rear of the aircraft, barricaded herself in a lavatory, and began pounding the walls
  • Silence followed and after a time, flight attendants opened the lavatory and found her sleeping inside
  • Flight attendants left her in the lavatory and eventually, she woke up and returned to her seat
  • Dasilva woke up from sleeping in the middle of the flight and began pounding overhead bins
  • This occurred as one of the pilots was preparing to take a bathroom break
  • Fearing she might try something, flight attendants not only stood in front of the cockpit door, but a male flight attendant also stood at the curtain separating first class from economy class
  • As feared, Dasilva then rushed toward the front of the aircraft and yelled to a flight attendant, “I’m going to kill you unless you land the plane right now. I’m going to f*cking kill you!”
  • She added, “If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll f*cking kill you. You’re the devil!”
  • Flight attendants (with the help of two passengers) restrained Dasilva and bound her hands with flex cuffs
  • The captain decided to divert out of an abundance of caution
  • The flight diverted at 4:20 am CT to Kansas City, Missouri (MCI)

Dasilva now faces one count of interfering with flight crew members.

Many passengers came forward to corroborate the story. You can read their accounts in detail here.

CONCLUSION

It isn’t clear whether alcohol, medication, drugs, or some combination of all three helped to trigger the psychotic state that led to the onboard incident (perhaps none of the above). In any case, Dasilva now faces legal limbo.


image: Alaska Airlines

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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22 Comments

  1. PolishKnight Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 4:03 pm

    “The captain decided to divert outbound an abundance of caution”

    Well, that’s putting it mildly. She was unarmed and restrained with flexcuffs. The cockpit is secured post 9-11 and Chicago was, at most, a 90 minute flight time away.

    Of course, it’s his ship and call, but I think he was over-reacting.

    • derek Reply
      April 13, 2023 at 4:32 pm

      Captain may have thought what was the quickest way to get rid of the psycho. Captain may have thought that he would be blamed if the psycho died for some reason, like a drug overdose.

      • PolishKnight Reply
        April 13, 2023 at 6:49 pm

        From AP:
        “The pilot told investigators he decided to divert the flight to Kansas City out of concern for the safety of the passengers.”

  2. Oscar Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 4:04 pm

    Tasers

  3. Jan Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 4:09 pm

    Our mental issue as Americans is quite something. I think it’s the overwhelming smorgasbord of “prescription” meds.

    • Not Aaron Reply
      April 13, 2023 at 4:32 pm

      Yes and not just mental health meds. CivicScience reported a study earlier this year the number of U.S. adults who report taking at least one prescription medication per day is now 70% — a 14 percentage-point increase from 2019 data — with over 50% being on two or more meds.

      Mental health medications are also up at least 25% since COVID, at least 1 in 4 Americans. The side effect profiles are crazy AF for so many drugs, both mental health meds and not. I’m not discounting that they help some (many?) people, of course, but the black box warnings speak for themselves.

      I try to avoid rx myself as Mayo Clinic had me on Imuran for a number of years which only made my issue worse at the time and they wanted to me to go to even worse biologics. I was like nope. I went the Eastern medicine route after that. Western medicine has a place, certainly for testing and diagnosis, but I’m less sure on the pharma aspect. The greek word for sorcery is “pharmakeia.” Pharmakeia was often seen as a form of sorcery that used drugs.

      One thing that I’ve always thought about is god forbid the grid or supply chain ever go down someday. Imagine how that would affect people who rely on and/or are addicted to meds. Similar to if they ever shut off food stamps, entitlements, etc. Crazy to think about but hopefully that never happens obviously for safety reasons alone.

      It will be interesting to see RFK Jr. at the 2024 Democratic Party presidential debates. Marianne Williamson will also be there, so there will be at least two going against the mainstream narrative on big topics. Hopefully they get airtime. They probably won’t, but perhaps voters will contact the DNC beforehand to demand it.

      Either way, people should check out the Big Pharma section of Children’s Health Defense–and perhaps the COVID section, too. I get a daily email digest with these articles and it’s insane every day. Now it’s coming out that there may be mNRA in the food supply and/or livestock are being vaccinated with mRNA.

      It’s all crazy, but the only way out is through.

      https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/big-pharma

      • Not Aaron Reply
        April 13, 2023 at 6:27 pm

        Not looking great for air travel and cargo according to some

        https://i.postimg.cc/NjFtrCT7/05-D4-BCD1-7-DA7-4-B14-A5-D8-51-DA7-C4-C5510.png

    • Mr. Marcus Reply
      April 13, 2023 at 7:44 pm

      Is it fair for me to guess that you haven’t worked in a Psych ward and admitted all those people who stopped taking their meds?

      Psych meds aren’t perfect, but neither are the people taking them.

      • Not Aaron Reply
        April 13, 2023 at 8:47 pm

        It’s certainly fair. However I have had a few years of experience with the mental health system and special prosecutor dealing with an individual who lives in my development with schizophrenia & more. She lives a few homes down from me, violates every HOA rule, has become physically violent with residents, punched her 80 year mother in the face, and so on. However, she’s honestly better off the meds than on, which seems to be true for many. As you probably know, psychosis is induced by many of the mental health meds, hence the black box warnings. Heck I’ve had it myself coming off Ativan when I’ve had to take it for anxiety. Actual benzo addiction has to be insane seeing the last time I took it I took 3mg total in two days and felt like I was coming off severe drug addiction when I stopped. I was also rx’ed Seroquel for depression like 15 years ago and that was like taking an insane tranquilizer where I was high AF. I also tried ever antidepressant in the book through my earlier years and they only made depression symptoms worse for me. While things will never be perfect, I’m honestly way healthier off meds than on. I have as-needed meds for ADHD and anxiety but I barely take them. I do better with medical marijuana. I don’t smoke it but the sublingual oils/concentrates/gummies are the most effective for me. Meds these days are strong and dangerous for many, and any citizen can unfortunately determine that through multiple sources and direct/indirect experience. As you said, they are not perfect, and far from it. I hope people will move towards alternative treatments like acupuncture, massage, chiro, cannabis, meditation, therapy, and so on.

        • Not Aaron Reply
          April 13, 2023 at 8:54 pm

          Forgot the biggest of all: daily exercise and daily sun exposure

        • Mr. Marcus Reply
          April 13, 2023 at 10:28 pm

          Is anyone with a soul happy about the number of folks on mental health meds? I hope not.

          A reasonable estimate is that somewhere between 25-45 people who are on a fully loaded domestic 737 are on antidepressants during the flight. How many times do you get a psychotic break like this one? Not too often.

          When you work in a psych ward you see the folks who can’t go home from the ER with a new Rx and a pep talk. Some of those folks need less meds, it’s true. But, mental health problems come in different shapes, sizes, and severity. This lady’s problem probably wasn’t a lack of sunshine, exercises, and massages.

          • Not Aaron
            April 13, 2023 at 11:00 pm

            Yes, but it’s still possible. A huge percentage of the population needs to detox. We are being/have been poisoned by air, food, water, medications, environmental poisons, 5G, etc etc, for decades now, never mind the huge amount questionable products on the market where humanity is the clinical trial. I am not sure that health can be injected or ingested, aside from a whole food based diet. Either way, the human body was not designed to carry this much toxicity within its body (and mind and spirit). For me, I noticed on the mental health meds that I was just suppressing thoughts/issues/problems and putting my head willingly/ignorantly in the sand. Meanwhile issues became even more problematic. That said, I know many people find benefit in these meds. Perhaps too many, though. The mental health problem in America is similar to the mass incarceration problem–something no one really knows how to deal with. I wish I had the solutions but the fact that people are trying holistic methods to heal is positive. I don’t believe big pharma is the overall answer as folks search for meaning.

  4. Jerry Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 4:39 pm

    Maybe she just wanted some wings from the Peanut in KC. I’d kill someone right now if I could get 10 of those bad boys.

  5. John Dogas Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 6:01 pm

    Unfortunately this is being treated as a criminal case rather than a mental health case. Too often people are charged with crimes they weren’t in a state of mind to be able to decide to commit. People don’t just decide to do what’s reported above. The woman likely has a chronic mental health issue or had a medical emergency like taking the wrong medication or having a bad reaction to something. Flying is stressful and it can trigger some irrational behavior. Being prosecuted won’t do anything to help anyone but will make the problem worse. Unfortunately this is being treated as a criminal case rather than a mental health case. Too often people are charged with crimes they weren’t in a state of mind to be able to decide to commit. People don’t just decide to do what’s reported above. The woman likely has a chronic mental health issue or had a medical emergency like taking the wrong medication or having a bad reaction to something. Flying is stressful and it can trigger some irrational behavior. Being prosecuted won’t do anything to help anyone but will make the problem worse. There is no cure for most mental issues as the cause is genetic. It is also heritable. This woman should be treated as a mental patient not a criminal.

  6. Brandon Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 6:24 pm

    I’m confused? Why wasn’t the flight diverted sooner if she was already causing antics? Or for that matter, turned around on the tarmac? Maybe the tarmac diversion would have been dramatic, but this seems to have gone on far longer than it should have.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      April 13, 2023 at 6:57 pm

      Most of the drama happened during the last hour of the flight.

  7. Asa George Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 9:50 pm

    It always amazes me how such people manage to get through all the checkpoints we must all go through before getting on a flight,without raising any flags,then wham! No sooner did the safety announcements start ,before being airborne,it’s wackadoo time.As a follower (not member)of the Christian Science faith,it seems to me psychotropic meds only contribute further to the loss of ones mental divinity.For years I held medications certification,today aspirin is as far as I’ll go.

    • Not Aaron Reply
      April 13, 2023 at 9:57 pm

      mental divinity..love that.. ‘restore the celestial order within my thinking’

  8. Will Reply
    April 13, 2023 at 11:52 pm

    What purpose does including “787 Max 9” in the lede serve? The type and size of the aircraft have no bearing on the actions of one passenger. It just gives naysayers additional ammo if they hate Boeing.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      April 14, 2023 at 7:49 am

      I always include the aircraft type in title. It’s simply how I write headlines.

  9. Asa George Reply
    April 14, 2023 at 7:28 am

    Many illnesses,mental and physical,are meta physical,as a medications technician,over the decades I witnessed many who willed their afflictions upon themselves.Such minded people are not following divine mind ,but rather creating sick illusions.

  10. Tony N Reply
    April 16, 2023 at 9:16 pm

    Well when you are dealing with people’s psychology and behavior, you have to get trained like a policeman, and a psychologist-therapist, and up at 37,000 feet in limited space, things can get pretty weird and bad.

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