Co-Pilot Says Southwest Captain Michael Haak Sexually Assaulted Her Mid-Flight
BREAKING: In a bombshell lawsuit, Christine Janning alleges Haak trapped her and masturbated as passengers sat blissfully unaware outside the cockpit door
TW/CW: Graphic details of sexual assault
Please share her story everywhere. Anyone wanting to reach Janning’s attorney Frank Podesta about anything relating to this case can confidentially contact StopAirlineAssault@proton.me
Note to current subscribers of The Landing: the October surprise I referred to in my last post is still forthcoming later in the month
Posted 11:45 a.m. 10/04/22. Check back for UPDATES on this breaking story throughout the week
After Southwest Airlines First Officer Christine Janning and Captain Michael Haak brought the aircraft to cruising altitude during their flight from Philadelphia to Orlando on August 10, 2020, Haak remarked it was going to be his final flight and informed his co-pilot there was “something [he] wanted to do before retiring.”
The 60-year-old captain then left his station and “bolt-locked the cockpit door in violation of federal law,” which meant no one else could enter or exit, placed the plane on autopilot, and stripped off his clothes, according to a bombshell lawsuit filed on Sept. 26 in The Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, Orange County, Florida.
As the jet hurtled through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour with dozens of souls aboard, its pilot was masturbating “in front of Ms. Janning while watching pornography on a tablet,” according to the suit.
Despite her horror, Janning nonetheless managed to perform her first officer duties while her superior officer continued what he was doing, even as passengers and cabin crew traveling on Southwest Airlines Flight 6607 were sitting unaware just outside the door.
“Captain Haak took several photographs and videos of himself masturbating in the cockpit in front of Ms. Janning and encouraged her to do the same,” the suit alleges. “Horrified, Ms. Janning also took photographs in order to create a record.
“This event took place over more than thirty minutes until Captain Haak ejaculated and re-dressed.”
Janning’s civil suit alleges Haak, in locking her inside the cockpit and performing that sex act, sexually assaulted her while she was trapped in the confined space. Janning, a pilot of 27 years, is also suing Southwest Airlines claiming retaliation, discrimination, slander and other torts; she also names her union, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), alleging conspiracy.
Florida-based Haak, a U.S. Air Force veteran who weeks after the alleged assault retired from Southwest where he had spent 27 years as a pilot, has already been convicted on related charges in federal court (see complaint below).
After Janning reported Haak’s actions to Southwest Airlines in 2020, she says she was told there would be “no internal investigation” into Haak’s actions because he had retired. Next, Janning went to the FBI because the airspace was their jurisdiction.
Around this time, the suit alleges “Southwest had issued Ms. Janning a ‘Letter of Warning,’ apparently for the sin of being subjected to Cpt. Haak's perversions and having the audacity to complain about it.”
Janning was grounded for three-and-a-half months against her will around this time with reduced pay, a move she says in the suit was retaliatory by the airline.
After a months-long FBI investigation, the case ended up in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Haak was charged in April 2021 with intentionally committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act in a public place, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail. (The feds pursued the case in Maryland because it was one of the states the aircraft flew over on the day of the alleged assault).
“As the plane continued its flight, Haak further engaged in inappropriate conduct in the cockpit, as the first officer continued to perform her duties as an assigned aircrew member,” said a statement from the prosecutor’s office at the time.
Haak pleaded guilty. At his sentencing in May of 2021, the judge told Haak his actions had a traumatic effect on the co-pilot (now known to be Christine Janning) and jeopardized the safety of passengers other flight crew.
Haak “had a duty to comport himself in a much more responsible manner,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham said, adding, “This is not the kind of aberrant behavior that anyone should accept.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson sentenced the pilot to one year of unsupervised probation and a $5,000 fine and Haak was not required to register as a sex offender. The Associated Press reported that Haak “apologized” for his behavior during sentencing.
Haak’s sentencing memorandum pleaded for leniency, saying in part that, “The embarrassment and resulting publicity of this incident has in and of itself been humbling to Michael Haak and has served as punishment in many ways.”
More Victims—and Allegations of Southwest’s Obstruction
Today is the first time Christine Janning’s name has been publicly revealed in connection to this case.
Her civil suit brings the previous 2021 criminal charges and Haak’s conviction for intentionally committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act in a public place up to the level of allegations of sexual assault, though not in a criminal court.
Janning’s suit says there are other alleged victims of the now-retired captain and that her union knew about it.
“Rather than support Ms. Janning, SWAPA actually assisted Cpt. Haak and Southwest in the criminal investigation…by concealing the reports of no fewer than three female victims that SWAPA representatives had interviewed as part of the SWAPA Professional Standards Committee’s investigation into the sexual assault and/or harassment claims against Cpt. Haak,” the suit says.
In her filing, Janning, who is now a captain, alleges that “prior to his interactions with Ms. Janning, Cpt. Haak had been reported for exposing himself to flight attendants and other pilots in a hotel following a flight, and for disseminating nude photographs of his wife to flight attendants in a misguided effort to convince them to have sex with him.”
The suit says Haak attended training at a location run by Richardson Management Associates, Ltd. in Montreal, Canada, referred to colloquially as “Charm School.”
“Prior to his interactions with Ms. Janning, Cpt. Haak had been sent to the Charm School at least once in his career following an incident in 2008 during which Cpt. Haak sexually assaulted a Southwest flight attendant after forcing himself into her hotel room,” the court documents allege.
According to the suit, this training is meant “to teach employees to avoid improprieties in the workplace. Southwest used the Charm School as a slap on the wrist for its pilots caught in disreputable acts in an effort to avoid meaningful discipline and to keep their indiscretions out of the public eye.”
After his return from “Charm School,” Haak was allowed to resume his captain duties, according to Janning’s lawsuit. (There have been allegations made outside the airline industry as well. According to court records, a woman who was not Haak’s wife or domestic partner but who lived nearby Haak’s home in Florida at the time accused him of “repeat domestic violence”).
There is no information available to indicate what exactly Southwest Airlines pilots go through or participate in when they are sent to Richardson Management Associates, or why an airline would need or want this foreign-based “misconduct training” location available to them in the first place.
It seems from the suit that Janning did not benefit from the same support other (male) pilots automatically receive. Her union “refused to advocate on Ms. Janning’s behalf even when Ms. Janning actively sought her union’s assistance in determining a legitimate basis for her grounding…At no stage did SWAPA support or even offer support for Ms. Janning,” documents allege.
Yet on April 26, 2021, the vice president of Janning’s union, Captain Michael Santoro, wrote a letter in support of Haak, who was the one who trapped his subordinate in a small space and allegedly masturbated for 30 full minutes, and claimed that “Captain Haak did not have any employment-related issues nor complaints for which he would have required union representation,” then closed the letter with “Captain Haak had spotless employment and training records.” (See full letter attached).
This begs the same kind of questions I’ve posed in previous stories about sexual assaults in the airline industry and those who allegedly seek to cover them up: What did Southwest Airlines know, and when did they know it? And why are victims retaliated against and often bullied while their male assailants are protected and supported?
Janning’s suit claims obstruction, too:
“While the FBI investigation of Cpt. Haak and Southwest was pending, Southwest and its employees received numerous summonses and requests for statements by the FBI.
Staggeringly, rather than simply complying with the FBI investigation, Southwest issued an internal memorandum to its employees instructing them not to cooperate with the FBI.
When the FBI advised Southwest that it was committing the crime of obstruction of a Federal Investigation, Southwest recanted its unlawful stance.
Despite this, Southwest continued its harassment and retaliation against Ms. Janning.”
Read letters of support for Haak in the sentencing document from the 2021 case below:
Allegations of Retaliation by Southwest
After Janning spoke to the FBI in December of 2020, her suit alleges, she was immediately and abruptly removed from all flying status with no notice.
In the suit, Janning also alleges:
“Despite Ms. Janning's advising Southwest that her portion of the FBI investigation was complete, that she was mentally sound, and that she did not wish to be grounded, Southwest continued with grounding Ms. Janning ‘for her benefit.’
“Thereafter, Southwest provided a different basis for her grounding each time she requested an explanation. Eventually, on March 25, 2021, after a three and a half (3.5) month involuntary grounding, Southwest gave Ms. Janning less than 48-hours to arrive in Dallas, Texas for coerced unnecessary simulator training.”
“Southwest has created an extremely hostile work environment for Ms. Janning, in which she is a pariah. Prior to these events, Ms. Janning was already an extreme minority in a boys’ club of pilots.
Only three-point-six percent (3.60%) of Southwest pilots are women.
“Now, for the mortal sin of being the woman Cpt. Haak chose to sexually assault (this time), Ms. Janning is the scourge of Southwest.”
One of the most harrowing elements of the suit is the claim that this incident could possibly have been avoided.
“Despite the many complaints and instances of Cpt. Haak's sexual predation prior to Cpt. Haak's meeting Ms. Janning, Southwest did absolutely nothing to forestall Cpt. Haak's misdeeds, apart from sending him on vacation to Montreal,” the suit reads.
It adds, “Southwest did nothing to prevent or curtail Cpt. Haak's sexual predation prior to his sexual assault on Ms. Janning.”
Southwest has long enjoyed a public reputation as a gold standard for how it treats employees. The airlines was named as one of Forbes’ 2021 America’s Best Employers, raking in the top 100 companies in the Large Employer category for the sixth year.
“We are grateful for this honor, which would not be possible without our People,” Julie Weber, Vice President and Chief People Officer, said in a press release at the time. “Being recognized as one of ‘America's Best Employers’ demonstrates our 50-year commitment of putting our People first and offering best-in-class Hospitality and Customer Service to our Employees and Customers.”
Letters of Support for Haak
When Haak pleaded guilty to the lewd, indecent or obscene act in 2021, various people wrote letters of support to the court. They can be found in the above sentencing memorandum.
One of the letters came from Florida Judge Jerri Collins, who became famous for bringing a domestic violence victim to tears as she begged not to be sent to jail for refusing to testify against her abuser because she feared for her life. Here is the video of the Florida Supreme Court reprimanding Collins:
Haak’s sentence memorandum also included the assertion that, “There is no reason to believe he would ever again (as he had not his entire adult life) engage in any criminal conduct.”
Speaking generally and broadly of sex offenders, I am reminded of a recent interview with experienced litigator and women’s rights advocate Jeanne Christensen, who told The Landing that certain offenders, generally speaking, rarely have just one victim.
“Age has something to do with it in the sense of, we know that once they start getting away with it, that’s when it really escalates,” Christensen said. “No man wakes up at age 40 or 42 and decides today’s the day he’s going to do that. That never happens.
“They start young. And it’s only when they’ve gotten away with it and enough time has passed, they think, ‘I’m not going to get called out for that. I’m going to do it again.’ They get to a certain point where if they’re not going to get caught, they start doing it a lot.”
Read the full lawsuit here:
More to come. Once I learn who Haak’s attorney is, I will report back with their response, as well as that of Southwest Airlines and SWAPA.
What a revolting disgusting creep. I’ve read here of a pilot masturbating in a crew rest area, the notorious S___N M___N. But at the controls of a plane? That is repulsive. Not to mention totally unhygienic. They all close ranks don’t they when it’s a female victim.
This makes me want to vomit. I am so sorry this happened to you Christine. You aren’t alone.