Southwest Captain Exposed Himself On Orlando Flight — Now The Union Wants To Punish The Pilot Who Reported It

A Southwest Airlines captain stripped naked and watched porn in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 while his first officer continued flying the plane. He pleaded guilty to a federal crime. She claims the incident was actually even worse, and that Southwest its pilots union retaliated against her for reporting it. Four years into her lawsuit, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association now wants Captain Christine Janning and her lawyers sanctioned and ordered to pay the union’s legal fees. SWAPA initially tried to keep that motion away from the public, but the Orange County, Florida clerk rejected its confidentiality. A Southwest Captain Strips Naked In The Cockpit On August 10, 2020, Christine Janning was first officer on Southwest flight 6607 from Philadelphia to Orlando. Michael Haak, a 27-year Southwest captain approaching retirement, had used his seniority to pick up the trip. According to Janning, the two had never met. At cruising altitude, Haak allegedly said there was something he wanted to do before retiring. He locked the cockpit door, got out of his seat, removed his clothing and began watching porn on a laptop. Those facts seem fairly well-established. He admitted that he disrobed, watched porn and engaged in additional “inappropriate conduct” (which I take to mean ‘flying solo’) while Janning continued performing her flight duties. He pleaded guilty to committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act and received one year of probation and a $5,000 fine. Here’s the Justice Department’s account, the Department of Transportation inspector general’s report and Haak’s sentencing submission. The co-pilot says in her original September 2022 complaint that he flicked the bean for more than 30 minutes, photographed and recorded himself, and encouraged her to participate. She says she photographed him to preserve evidence while continuing to operate the aircraft. Later complaints alleged he blocked her exit, became angry when she refused to watch the pornography and threatened to crash the aircraft if she resisted. She says that after ‘finishing’ he threw the napkin he used toward a waste bag, striking her arm and leaving the napkin on the center pedestal. The captain called the episode a “consensual prank” that got out of hand. His lawyer claimed she’d encouraged him to fly naked and denied that he masturbated. Janning reported the episode to Southwest employee relations. She says the airline told her six days later that it would not conduct an internal investigation because Haak had retired. She met with the FBI on December 2. One week later, Southwest removed her from flying while she was in Denver. She received a letter from the chief pilot says she was being pulled from duty under Section 2.C of the pilot contract “in order to afford [her] the opportunity to participate in an ongoing FBI investigation.” 2.C covers pilots removed for a possible offense, questionable occurrence or fitness for duty issue, so she says this was meant to signal that she might be the one under investigation or psychologically unfit to fly. The letter allegedly circulated to more than 25 Southwest and SWAPA employees and included her home address. Janning remained grounded for approximately 105 days, lost flight currency and recurrent training, and says she was underpaid by nearly $30,000. She returned to the line in March 2021. She alleges managers and other pilots spread stories that she was mentally unstable, a dangerous pilot, promiscuous and previously involved with Haak, even though the perp acknowledges that flight was their first meeting. The Union Supported The Senior Captain Janning says SWAPA declined to challenge her grounding, lost pay or treatment by Southwest. Yet when Haak appeared for sentencing, SWAPA vice president Mike Santoro wrote the federal judge on his behalf saying he had a “spotless employment and training record” and no employment-related complaints requiring union representation. Janning alleges that SWAPA knew Haak’s record was anything but spotless. Her Fourth Amended Complaint says four crew members reported Haak to SWAPA Professional Standards in 2008 for sexual harassment, sexual assault and exposing himself. SWAPA allegedly interviewed three flight attendants and a first officer, briefed senior union officials and helped arrange for Haak to attend a Montreal behavioral program employees called “Charm School.” Janning contends that neither Southwest nor SWAPA disclosed those reports during the federal investigation. She further alleges that Southwest instructed employees not to cooperate with the FBI until investigators objected, and that management and union officials collectively agreed to ground her and discredit her. Additional Allegations Against The Pilot Union Karelene Pettit claims that the alleged 2008 complaints involved “sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual battery and exposing his genitals” and that the union deliberately concealed those complaints from the FBI and DOJ during the Haak investigation and that Santoro knowingly lied to Haak’s sentencing judge when he described Haak’s employment and training record as spotless. She says the pilots union worked with the airline to portray Janning as mentally unstable and keep her grounded. And during the time that the first officer was grounded, she had a captain upgrade revoked. The Airline’s Position In All This Southwest doesn’t deny the conduct took place. The airline says it didn’t know about the incident until after the captain retired, that it cooperated and penalized him once it learned, it supported the first officer and that claims they retained a known predator, retaliated against Janning, defamed her or conspired with the union are meritless. When the captain was criminally charged, they said he left the airline before it learned of the incident, no passengers witnessed it, and the company was cooperating with investigators. When he pled guilty, they said the carrier “does not tolerate behavior of this nature,” had investigated despite learning about the incident after Haak’s departure, and had stopped paying benefits associated with his separation. After Janning sued, Southwest denied her allegations and said it had “immediately supported” her by cooperating with the appropriate outside agencies and said it would “vigorously defend” itself. Its lawyers have been more aggressive in filings, calling the allegations “trumped up,” “sensationalized” and “fantastical.” And they argued that her fear Haak might use the aircraft as a weapon was “unsupported conjecture” and that the complaint did not sufficiently allege he physically prevented her from leaving the cockpit. The Lawsuit Has Dragged On For Nearly Four Years Janning filed suit in Orange County Circuit Court on September 26, 2022. The current complaint brings negligent-supervision and negligent-retention claims against Southwest, arguing that the airline knew of Haak’s earlier behavior but kept him in the cockpit. It also alleges retaliation, sex discrimination, hostile work environment, libel and slander. Haak is sued for sexual assault, sexual battery and false imprisonment. Former Southwest managers face defamation claims. SWAPA is accused of joining Southwest in a civil conspiracy to retaliate against Janning. SWAPA’s December 2023 motion to dismiss argues that Janning never plausibly connected the union to an agreement to retaliate. Now they argue her claims againt them are sufficiently frivolous as to warrant sanctions and costs. Topics on this page