Is JetBlue where flight crew members go to go bonkers?
The company is reeling from its second public meltdown, after a flight from New York’s Kennedy airport to Las Vegas was diverted to Amarillo, Texas because captain Clayton Osbon began acting erratically, had to be expelled from the cockpit and subdued by passengers.
Osbon, who has been a commercial pilot since 1989, reportedly started flipping switches in the cockpit and yelling about al-Qaida and a possible bomb on board the plane. Six passengers and flight crewmembers, including a former corrections officer, had to subdue the disturbed captain while his partner landed the plane.
The incident recalled another public blow-up, from JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who berated a passenger, grabbed a beer, and deployed the emergency exit and inflatable slide while on the Kennedy tarmac in 2010. If you ask us, Slater’s got Osbon beat on style points. Nobody likes a bomb scare, especially if it starts with “this is your captain, speaking.”
Video produced by Taige Jensen
