“He picked the wrong plane”
I’m surprised that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. But I’m awfully glad it doesn’t:
A JetBlue flight captain went berserk mid-flight today and had to be restrained by passengers as the plane made an emergency landing.
Clayton Frederick Osbon, 49, reportedly screamed ‘say your prayers, say your prayers’ at horrified passengers after running up and down the aisle shouting ‘Iraq, al-Qaeda, terrorism, we’re all going down.’
The captain of flight 191 from JFK to Las Vegas went ‘crazy’ passengers said after he went to the toilet and returned to find that he had been locked out of the cockpit by his co-pilot who had concerns about his behavior.
Why was it “the wrong plane”?:
The flight had been packed with heavily built men heading to the 2012 International Security Conference in Las Vegas held for professionals working in ”˜law enforcement, border protection and campus security’.
It has media sponsors including The Counter Terrorist magazine, Homeland Security Newswire and Government Security News.
One witness told CBS: ‘He picked the wrong plane. Huge guys just tackled him. The response was Olympics kind of stuff.’
Actually, Osbon’s lucky he didn’t get killed.
I wrote that this sort of incident doesn’t happen very often. But this isn’t the first time it’s ever happened, either:
In 2008, an Air Canada co-pilot had a mental breakdown on a flight from Toronto to London and was forcibly removed from the cockpit, restrained and sedated.
Most of us have (at least, I do) an image of pilots as unflappable, stalwart, calm, hyper-rational; ice water in their veins in a good way. Captain Sullenberger comes to mind as the quintessential pilot you’d like to have on board in case of any untoward event. Who expects the pilot himself to cause the ruckus?
[NOTE: At least it wasn’t anything like what happened on EgyptAir 990.]
Clayton Frederick Osbon, 49, reportedly screamed ‘say your prayers, say your prayers’ at horrified passengers after running up and down the aisle shouting ‘Iraq, al-Qaeda, terrorism, we’re all going down.’
It’s bad enough when it’s a passenger. I helped sit on a drunk passenger once in a airplane who went ballistic. It was an international flight, and we landed early in Canada.
But I really don’t want to see the pilot out and about yelling about “saying your prayers”. Geez Louise! I tend to be snoozin’ mid flight too, so it would be officially nightmarish.
Yeah, that guy picked the wrong plane all right.
But that said, there probably isn’t a “right” plane anymore, not on US carriers at least. If I was on a flight where that happened, I’m tackling the guy. I’ve already reached that determination. From reading up on Sept. 11th history, I’ve concluded that passengers can no longer tolerate ANY threats to the proper flight plan like they did before that date, and it no longer matters that it really should be someone else’s job. The only thing that matters is whether you’re present or not.
This isn’t to say I’m predisposed to heroism. Quite the opposite; I’d RATHER sit and let someone else do the saving. God knows I’d rather not mix things up with either a nutcase (this situation) or a dedicated killer (9/11). But again, I’ve studied the history of that tragic day, and it’s inescapable that being passive is now the route to larger tragedy. It’s irrelevant that I’m not a large guy, that I’m only 5′ 9″ and 168lbs and not in good shape at all. It doesn’t matter that I’d probably break my neck and die trying to tussle with someone in the aisles. The jet CANNOT BE COMPROMISED BY THE INSANE. Even if that insane guy happens to be the freakin’ captain. It just cannot happen. Period.
So it’s either die trying to stop it, or die while hanging on in sheer terror as an insane individual kills you anyway while also getting hundreds if not thousands of other people on the ground. That’s the new paradigm of the decade, and we can all thank September 11th for it. I’d only hope that there’s someone else large and good in a fight on board that I could buy time for. But Flight 93 showed that passengers cannot depend on anyone else when it all hits the fan on their flight. 9/11 could’ve been a lot worse had it not been for those people.
As a woman, I’d attack anyone who tried this nonsense as well…
As a man, I’d demand to change planes and a full refund.
Aeroflot has some “interesting” stories as well. Like the Captain and 1st Officer having a fist fight in the galley, with the cockpit door locked and no one in the cockpit. Among other happy incidents,,,,,
Glad the passengers were proactive and the flight landed safely. Until I see a full report on the Captain, and the circumstances leading up to the incident, I’ll refrain from theorizing about why he had a nervous break down. Or any other circumstances that might lead to such a thing.
Glad to see the comments about passengers being ready to be proactive when needed. That is a needed line of defense against another 9/11. By the by, two very handy things that TSA allows all passengers to carry on board are belts and ball point pens. Both make excellent weapons in the proper situation. Just sayin.’