Delta Flight Unable To Takeoff After Pilots Give Up Their Seats For Veterans

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DETROIT — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is reportedly launching a formal investigation after passengers alleged a pilot and copilot of a Delta Air Lines flight gave up their seats to honor airmen home from Afghanistan this week.

The gesture, while well meaning, caused a security scare and shutdown the Detroit Metropolitan Airport for five hours.

Manifests indicate the Air Force fuel specialists en route to Las Vegas — 19-year-old Airman First Class Ted Farnsworth and 21-year-old Senior Airman Wayne Stryker — were not in any way qualified to pilot an aircraft, commercial or private. However, that did not cross the mind of the plane's recently suspended captain, James Reynolds.

"They were in the Air Force, so I honestly didn't see a problem," said Reynolds. "Based on all of those commercials I see on TV I just assumed everyone in the Air Force was a pilot. They really have to be more clear."

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