San Francisco, California A group of federal officials apprehended a Delta Air Lines co-pilot at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Saturday, July 26, 2025, right after his flight from Minneapolis landed. Sources, like a Fox News article and KTVU’s Minnesota station FOX 9, say that the arrest was related to allegations of child pornography. The shocking event, which has been shared widely on social media, shows police arresting the pilot while shocked passengers looked on.
There has been no formal word from the police about the arrest, and the pilot has not yet been named.
View from the Wing, a travel news site, says that officers “stormed to the front” of Delta Flight 2809 just after it landed at about 9:35 PM local time on Saturday. Reports say that the Boeing 757-300 had to make a second approach before it could land safely because of severe fog.
Witnesses who were on board said that the operation was quick and well-planned. One passenger told the San Francisco Chronicle that she saw at least 10 federal agents, including Homeland Security investigators and people who said they were air marshals, making their way across the aisle toward the cockpit. “A group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit,” the passenger said. “It made me angry to see someone disappear right in front of me.”
A passenger who talked to FOX 9 said that the co-pilot was detained and taken off the plane. I looked at him and said, “What’s going on?” The passenger remembered that the co-pilot answered, “I have no idea,” which showed that he was surprised by the arrest. “And he really looked surprised that there were suddenly people on the plane. He had us stand up and was getting ready to land, and everyone was already in the overhead bins.” This means that the authorities kept the operation a secret so that the suspect wouldn’t know about it during the flight.
Footage published on social media, including one from View from the Wing, shows officers in plain clothing and badges escorting the co-pilot off the plane. You couldn’t see their faces very well in the videos. Reports say that a second group of operatives went back to the plane soon after the arrest to grab the co-pilot’s personal things.
As of Monday morning, Delta Air Lines, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had not made any public statements on the arrest. Reports say that Delta has told people to talk to the police. Homeland Security told KTVU that it was helping with an arrest warrant issued by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. A senior federal source quoted by Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin said that the arrest was connected to charges related to child sexual abuse materials. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California has not yet said anything.
Federal Air Marshals are armed federal law enforcement officials whose main job is to stop and fight terrorist activity, aircraft piracy, and other crimes aboard commercial passenger flights. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is in charge of them. They can arrest people without a warrant for some crimes they see happen or for felonies when there is enough evidence to support an arrest. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is the main part of DHS that looks into a wide range of transnational crimes, such as child exploitation.
This happened just a few days after reports said that another Delta pilot was arrested in Stockholm, Sweden, for allegedly failing a breathalyzer test before leaving. However, there are speculations that the test result may be challenged.