Erratic captain subdued in flight to Las Vegas
Posted Mar 28, 2012 7:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
What was supposed to be a routine flight from New York to Las Vegas turned out to be anything but Tuesday morning.
The plane made an emergency landing in Texas after their captain became erratic and had to be subdued by passengers.
Jet Blue’s Flight 191 left at 7:28 Tuesday morning and was mid-air when the captain left the cockpit screaming about “Al Qaeda” and a “bomb being onboard.”
Amateur video captured by cell phones show a commotion as four or five passengers near the front of the plane tackle the man in the aisle.
Passenger Serge Kapchits says the pilot was clearly out of control.
“He started getting a lot more aggressive,” he says. “Trying to physically punch his way into the cockpit until the guys in the front row jumped up and grabbed his hands.”
Another off-duty captain helped the co-pilot land in Amarillo.
He can be heard on the footage, over the PA system, asking for help in restraining the man until they were able to get on the ground.
Law enforcement met the plane and handcuffed the man, taking him to a nearby medical facility.
Those onboard the plane are hailing the co-pilot as a hero.
Not much is known about the pilot in question.
JetBlue has not released his name, only saying that he suffered from a “medical episode.”
There are reports the man lives in Georgia and rented a room in Queens, New York for layovers.
Those who know him there, like Jim Capace, think the pressure of the job got to him.
“It can get to anybody, away from his family as much as these guys are,” he says.
The FBI and the FAA are now investigating the incident.
