Why Did Law Enforcement Agents Storm Cockpit of a Plane and Arrest a Delta Pilot?

Passengers on a Delta flight traveling from Minnesota to California were greeted by a shocking sight upon landing. The first officer of Delta Flight 2809 was taken into custody by police, who were waiting with cuffs in hand.

This doesn't bode well for the airline, which is already facing controversy surrounding its use of AI to set prices, per Men's Journal, and a plane that flipped over in February 2025.

As if that weren't bad enough, in July 2025, Delta settled a lawsuit in which it agreed to pay $8.1 million to the United States following a claim that it misused COVID-19 pandemic-relief funds.

Although a single copilot getting arrested might not seem like a big deal in comparison, the charges are very serious. Here's what we know.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, passengers were barely up and getting their bags when agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) forced their way onto the newly arrived plane on July 26, 2025.

One individual told the outlet that they could only see a "group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings ... pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit."

Several other passengers estimated there were roughly 10 members of law enforcement boarding the plane. A senior official with DHS said the flight's copilot was arrested in connection with charges related to child sexual abuse materials.

The copilot was pulled out of the cockpit, handcuffed, and marched off the plane. Shortly after this happened, another group of officers returned to grab the copilot's belongings.

Delta has yet to comment on this matter.

A few days before the copilot was arrested in San Francisco, a different Delta pilot was arrested for failing a breathalyzer test. This occurred in Stockholm as the plane was about to take off, per View from the Wing.

The Boeing 767 to New York JFK was preparing to depart when the random alcohol screening threw a monkey wrench into the travel plans.

The pilot's alcohol level exceeded the maximum limit set by European aviation authorities, which resulted in their arrest and the cancellation of the flight.

Delta later told The Independent, per Fodor's Travel, that the offending pilot was not intoxicated.

It should be noted that breathalyzer tests are not 100 percent accurate.

Apparently, a second breathalyzer test concluded that the pilot's blood alcohol level wasn't too high to fly. The so-called "Bottle to Throttle" rule dictates that pilots stop all alcohol consumption at least eight hours before a flight, per the Federal Aviation Administration.

Ideally, the wait time is 24 hours. Pilots also need to consider how a hangover will affect their ability to operate an airplane.