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| Clayton Osbon was restrained by passengers when he seemed to be having a panic attack. |
Houston: A plane carrying 135 passengers on an early morning flight from New York to Las Vegas on Tuesday was forced to make an emergency landing when its captain suddenly went berserk and began yelling about a bomb on the plane.
Reports said he screamed, “Say your prayers, say your prayers”, at horrified passengers and ran up and down the aisle shouting, “Iraq, al-Qaeda, terrorism, we’re all going down!”
Clayton Osbon, the veteran pilot with JetBlue, was controlled by passengers. He seemed to have had a panic attack, CBS News reported.
The airline said the captain of Flight 191 had a ‘medical situation’, and the co-pilot diverted the plane to land in Amarillo, Texas.
The flight was carrying passengers to Las Vegas for a security convention when it was suddenly diverted around 10 am. Passengers first noticed something wrong when the pilot came out of the cockpit, didn’t close the door, and tried to forcibly enter an occupied bathroom.
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| Security personnel conducted a thorough check of the plane and baggage after it made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas |
As co-workers tried to calm him, he became more jittery. They coaxed him to the back of the plane making sure he didn’t get back near the controls. But he suddenly broke free and sprinted up the cabin’s aisle ranting about a bomb. “Nobody knew what to do because he was the captain,” said passenger Don Davis. “You’re not just going to jump up and attack the captain.”
But four men, including a retired NYPD sergeant, did tackle the pilot, pinning him to the floor for more than 20 minutes while the co-pilot and an off-duty pilot who was aboard landed the plane.
One witness said: “Clearly, he had an emotional or mental type of breakdown. But he picked the wrong plane. Huge guys just tackled him. The response was Olympic kind of stuff.”
Passenger Tony Antolino, a 40-year-old executive, said, "The real hero here is the co-pilot. He had the instincts to recognise that something was going wrong in the cockpit and managed to persuade the pilot out of the cockpit. That really was what completely averted what could have been a tragedy."
The flight left NY at 7 am and was in the air for 3 1/2 hours before landing in Texas. A spokesman said the captain was taken to a hospital. A federal officer said the incident didn’t appear terror-related but FBI is investigating.
UNRULY PILOTS AND CREW
March 9: An American Airlines flight attendant screamed ‘Don’t blame me if we crash’ and ranted about 9/11 over intercom during pre-flight safety briefing. The flight from Dallas to Chicago was taxied back to the gate where the woman, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was arrested.
August 2010: A JetBlue attendant ranted over intercom at a passenger who stood up while his plane (going from Pittsburgh to NY) was taxiing – before grabbing beer, activating the emergency exit slide and jumping down. He was later arrested at his home after fleeing the tarmac at JFK.
Jan 2008: An Air Canada flight on its way to London made an emergency landing in Ireland after the co-pilot had a nervous breakdown. He was forcibly removed and sedated by doctors. |
