Southwest pilot sues after co-worker accused of exposing himself, watching pornography during flight
A Southwest Airlines pilot is suing the airline, her union and a former co-worker who pleaded guilty over a 2020 incident in which he exposed his genitals and watched pornography during a flight.
Christine Janning alleges in the lawsuit that the airline retaliated against her after she reported the former pilot, Michael Haak, to the company and the FBI. She claims that the airline kept her grounded and that the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association conspired with Southwest Airlines and did not support her after the incident.
Janning is suing Haak on accusations of sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to intentionally committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act and was sentenced to probation and a $5,000 fine. Haak admitted at the time that after a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando, Florida, reached its cruising altitude, Haak got out of the pilot’s seat, disrobed and watched pornography on a laptop, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland.
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Haak’s attorney, Michael Salnick, told USA TODAY that Janning asked Haak if there was something he wanted to do before he retired, “and that’s how he ended up flying naked.” At his sentencing hearing last year, Haak called the incident “a consensual prank.”