Delta Airlines co-pilot dragged off from plane after landing over alleged child porn charges

In a shocking turn of events that surfaced in San Francisco, a Delta co-pilot was arrested on Saturday night (July 27, 2025). According to Bill Melugin, Fox News national correspondent in Los Angeles, he is wanted on child porn charges. Bill Melugin shared the incident on the social media platform X. “NEW: I’m told by a senior federal source that the Delta co-pilot was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents on charges of child sexual abuse material,” his post read.


The incident was revealed by a passenger on the flight who is related to a FOX Television staffer. The passenger recounted that the federal agents told passengers to stay in their seats as they entered the cockpit through first class.


The arrest took place shortly after the flight, which took off from Minneapolis and landed in San Francisco. Passengers reported seeing multiple federal agents push into the cockpit and arrest the Delta co-pilot on board the flight. The agents handcuffed and pulled off the co-pilot. Some of them were identified as Homeland Security investigators.

Passengers recount incident

The passengers described the incident, saying that while the agents were pulling off the co-pilot, the flight crew seemed confused by the situation. Recounting the incident, a passenger said, "I looked at him and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said, ‘I have no idea,’" as quoted by Fox News.

"And he genuinely looked like this was a surprise that all of a sudden there were people on the plane because he had had us stand up, we were starting to take our stuff out for arrival, and everybody was already in the overhead bins," the passenger added.

What were the allegations against the co-pilot

Bill Melugin, citing a senior federal source, reported that the co-pilot was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents on charges of child sexual abuse materials.

To dig deeper into the case and learn more about the alleged charges, FOX 9 reached out to multiple agencies on Sunday (July 27, 2025), including law enforcement and Delta. The airline referred FOX 9 to law enforcement. Homeland Security officials diverted the news platform to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which has not yet released any statement related to the arrest.

However, it’s important to note that FOX 9 was unable to verify the Fox News correspondent Melugin’s claim about the arrest through official sources. Authorities have also not yet released the name of the arrested pilot.

The latest incident surrounding Delta Airlines came a week after its flight DL446, en route from Los Angeles to Atlanta, made an emergency landing on Friday (July 18, 2025) after what appeared to be a fire in its left engine. The aircraft, a Boeing 767-400, had taken off from Los Angeles International Airport when the pilots detected warning signs of an engine issue.

Video footage captured from the ground showed flames visibly shooting out of the left engine as the aircraft climbed above Los Angeles. The fire was seen as the plane passed over the southern part of the city. The aircraft first ascended over the Pacific Ocean, then circled back inland over Downey and Paramount. This gave the crew time to complete safety checks and prepare for landing.