JetBlue captain's erratic behavior forces emergency landing, passengers say

AMARILLO, Texas – A JetBlue plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday after the captain "exhibited erratic behavior," according to a TSA statement.

JetBlue Flight 191, which was headed from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Las Vegas, was forced to make the landing after the pilot reportedly ran up and down the aisles screaming “Say your prayers” after he was locked outside the cockpit, The New York Post reported, citing a passenger.

JetBlue

“Someone next to me said he was saying something about bombs,” the passenger, Tiffany Lee, 26, told the paper.

Laurie Dhue, a former Fox News anchor who was on board the flight, told Fox News that she heard the pilot mention "Afghanistan" and "Israel" during his rant.

Sources tell Fox News the pilot involved in the incident is Clayton Osbon, a flight standards captain for JetBlue from Richmond Hill, Georgia.

Osbon does not appear to have been a veteran and initial reports suggest there is no counterterrorism connection.

"There are several different sides to every story. Just keep that in mind," Osbon's wife Connye told ABCNews.com.

Mrs. Osbon said she has not spoken with her husband in regards to the incident.

After the captain reportedly ran down the aisle screaming and banging on the cockpit door, one of the flight attendants asked passengers to restrain the man. Several followed the instructions and pinned the man until the plane landed, the report said.

One of the four passengers who helped subdue the man was a retired NYPD sergeant, The Post reported.

David Gonzalez, a former corrections officer who was headed to a security conference in Las Vegas, told Fox News that the pilot tried to break into the cockpit and struggled with the flight attendants and appeared to want to open the plane’s side door.

“I said, ‘Hey, what’s the problem,’” Gonzalez said. “And the stewardess said, 'Can you help me?’”

Gonzalez said the pilot began yelling about Iraq and Iran. After a two minute struggle, Gonzalez said he was able to subdue the pilot. Other passengers then stepped in and tied the pilot, he said.

One of the co-pilots reportedly convinced the captain to leave the cockpit and locked him out, CBSDFW.com reported. Another JetBlue pilot, who was off-duty but on the plane, took over the other’s duties.

“He picked the wrong plane. Huge guys just tackled him. The response was Olympics kind of stuff,” one passenger said, according to CBSDFW.com.

A spokeswoman from JetBlue told FoxNews.com that the passengers will be reimbursed for the flight and receive a credit for twice the value of their ticket. The airline would not release the pilot’s name or medical history.

JetBlue said the ill captain was taken to a medical facility in Amarillo.

The FBI, FAA, TSA and local law enforcement are coordinating on investigating the incident, according to a TSA statement.

Fox News' Jana Winter, Jennifer Griffin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/27...#ixzz1qMOtkNoj