Southwest Airlines Flight 1763

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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." 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.