AMARILLO, Texas (AP) _ Federal authorities have charged a JetBlue Airways captain who sprinted down the cabin of a flight screaming about a bomb with interfering with a flight crew.
An affidavit unsealed Wednesday states that captain Clayton Osbon told his co-pilots that “things don’t matter” during a Las Vegas-bound flight Tuesday. Court documents say Osbon told the plane’s first officer that “we’re not going to Vegas” and began giving a sermon.
Passengers wrestled Osbon to the ground after he left the cockpit and sprinted down the cabin screaming and urging everyone to pray. The plane made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas. No one on board was hurt.
The 49-year-old veteran pilot was being held Wednesday at a medical facility in Texas.
In the meantime, JetBlue is suspending Osbon pending a review of the incident.
Osbon has been a pilot at JetBlue since 2000, the airline’s first year of flying. The company said a “medical situation” occurred onboard the plane on Tuesday but wouldn’t elaborate.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)