JetBlue captain charged over mid-air meltdown
Source: Agencies |
March 30, 2012, Friday
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UNITED States authorities filed criminal charges on Wednesday against a JetBlue Airways pilot who witnesses said yelled incoherently about religion and the 2001 hijack attacks and pounded on a locked cockpit door before passengers subdued him in a mid-air uproar.
Flight 191 was diverted to Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday, following what officials described as erratic behavior by Captain Clayton Frederick Osbon, who allegedly ran through the cabin before passengers tackled him in the galley.
A flight attendant suffered bruised ribs, officials said.
The Justice Department filed a complaint charging Osbon with interfering with the crew. It is unusual for a commercial airline pilot to be charged in this way, and a US official said he could not recall a similar case in recent years.
Osbon, 49, remains in a guarded facility at a hospital in Amarillo, and US Attorney Sarah Saldana said he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The 12-year JetBlue veteran was suspended while the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aviation authorities investigate the incident, the airline and the government said on Wednesday.
A JetBlue spokeswoman said the company was cooperating fully with authorities and would conduct its on investigation as well.
Dave Barger, chief executive of the New York carrier, said he knows and respects Osbon, who regulators said underwent a routine medical evaluation nearly four months ago and had a clean record.
The harrowing events raised questions about pilot medical qualifications and workplace stress in an industry under chronic financial pressure.
The incident was the second to involve erratic behavior by a JetBlue crew member since August 2010, when a flight attendant upset after an altercation with a passenger bolted from a plane by deploying and sliding down the inflatable emergency chute.
Lawyers for the flight attendant in that incident, Steven Slater, later told reporters he had acted in part out of frustration with the chaos of air travel and that he was under stress because his mother was suffering from lung cancer.
The incident also came just two weeks after a female flight attendant started ranting about a possible crash over the public address system of an American Airlines plane. She, too, was subdued by passengers and crew as the plane returned to the gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the JetBlue incident.
Flight 191 was diverted to Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday, following what officials described as erratic behavior by Captain Clayton Frederick Osbon, who allegedly ran through the cabin before passengers tackled him in the galley.
A flight attendant suffered bruised ribs, officials said.
The Justice Department filed a complaint charging Osbon with interfering with the crew. It is unusual for a commercial airline pilot to be charged in this way, and a US official said he could not recall a similar case in recent years.
Osbon, 49, remains in a guarded facility at a hospital in Amarillo, and US Attorney Sarah Saldana said he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The 12-year JetBlue veteran was suspended while the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aviation authorities investigate the incident, the airline and the government said on Wednesday.
A JetBlue spokeswoman said the company was cooperating fully with authorities and would conduct its on investigation as well.
Dave Barger, chief executive of the New York carrier, said he knows and respects Osbon, who regulators said underwent a routine medical evaluation nearly four months ago and had a clean record.
The harrowing events raised questions about pilot medical qualifications and workplace stress in an industry under chronic financial pressure.
The incident was the second to involve erratic behavior by a JetBlue crew member since August 2010, when a flight attendant upset after an altercation with a passenger bolted from a plane by deploying and sliding down the inflatable emergency chute.
Lawyers for the flight attendant in that incident, Steven Slater, later told reporters he had acted in part out of frustration with the chaos of air travel and that he was under stress because his mother was suffering from lung cancer.
The incident also came just two weeks after a female flight attendant started ranting about a possible crash over the public address system of an American Airlines plane. She, too, was subdued by passengers and crew as the plane returned to the gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the JetBlue incident.
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