Southwest Airlines Flight 1763

Southwest Airlines Flight 1763
	N798SW, the aircraft involved, photographed in July 2008
Incident
Date	August 11, 2000
Summary	Air rage
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-7H4
Operator	Southwest Airlines
IATA flight No.	WN1763
ICAO flight No.	SWA1763
Call sign	SOUTHWEST 1763
Registration	N798SW
Flight origin	Las Vegas, Nevada
Destination	Salt Lake City, Utah
Occupants	126
Passengers	121
Crew	5
Fatalities	1 (Jonathan Burton)
Injuries	1 (minor)
Survivors	125

Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 was a scheduled passenger flight, operated by Southwest Airlines, from McCarran International Airport, in Paradise, Nevada, to Salt Lake City International Airport, in Salt Lake City, Utah. On August 11, 2000, Jonathan Burton, a Las Vegas resident, stormed the cockpit door of the Boeing 737 while in flight, in an apparent case of air rage. The 19-year-old was subdued by six to eight other passengers with such force that he died of asphyxiation.^[4] The death was initially believed to have been a heart attack.

Incident

Burton charged the cockpit door, kicking it open and sticking his head in. The pilot and co-pilot pushed him out, and six to eight passengers then restrained him, some holding him down with their feet on his neck, causing him to suffocate.^[5]

There were conflicting reports of Burton's air rage and the events that occurred during the flight. CBS News reported the conclusion of the U.S. Attorney's office that criminal charges would not be filed because the death was not intended.^[6] Time published an article by Timothy Roche entitled "Homicide in the Sky" in which it described the ruckus Burton initially created. He was briefly subdued, but then struck an off-duty officer who had been keeping him in his seat, and began running up and down the aisle of the plane. The group of men then pinned Burton to the floor.^[7] The Guardian reported that fellow passenger Dean Harvey said that one of the men involved continued jumping on Burton's chest even after he had been told that Burton was contained.^[5]

The medical examiner's autopsy report stated that when police arrived, "Mr. Burton was lying face down with at least one individual standing on his neck."^[8] Burton had low levels of marijuana and cocaine in his body but this was not capable of explaining his outburst, which was out of character, and he had no history of violence or mental illness.^[7]^[5]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-7H4, MSN 28436, registered as N798SW. The aircraft was originally delivered to Eastwind Airlines in May 1998, registered as N700EW. The aircraft was equipped with two CFM International CFM56 engines.

In popular culture

Four months later, an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation featured a plot paralleling Burton's death, “Unfriendly Skies”, where five strangers board a plane and kill a man after believing him to be trying to take down the plane; the episode was televised December 8, 2000. A year later, playwright Lucas Rockwood turned the incident into a play, Fifty Minutes, which was performed a few weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001.^[9]

An episode of Mile High “Series 2 Episode 7” (first screened on April 4, 2004) also featured a plot echoing the death of Burton. In that episode, a young man of Arabian appearance is treated with suspicion by other passengers, panics, and attempts to reach the cockpit. Other passengers subdue him and strangle him to death in the process.