Co-pilot’s concern tops out with ‘leap of faith’

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. -- JetBlue Airways Capt. Clayton Osbon showed up unusually late to fly Flight 191 to Las Vegas. The plane was in midair when he eerily told his co-pilot they wouldn't make it there.

Osbon started rambling about religion. He scolded air traffic controllers to quiet down, then turned off the radios and dimmed the monitors in the cockpit.

"Things just don't matter," he said, then encouraged his co-pilot to take a leap of faith with him.

"We're not going to Vegas," he said.

What unfolded next, according to court documents released Wednesday, was a chase and struggle that ended with passengers tackling Osbon, 49, and holding him until the co-pilot could make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas. He was charged Wednesday with interfering with a flight crew.

Osbon had been a pilot with JetBlue since 2000. His odd behavior on Tuesday became increasingly erratic after the flight departed New York, worrying his fellow crew members so much that they locked him out after he abruptly left the cockpit, according to an affidavit. Osbon then started yelling about Jesus, al-Qaida and a possible bomb on board, forcing passengers to tie him up with seat belt extenders and zip-tie handcuffs for about 20 minutes until the plane landed.

"The (first officer) became really worried when Osbon said, 'We need to take a leap of faith,' " according to the sworn affidavit given by FBI agent John Whitworth. "Osbon started trying to correlate completely unrelated numbers like different radio frequencies, and he talked about sins in Las Vegas."

Osbon left the cockpit after, and tensions on the plane escalated, according to witness accounts compiled by investigators. Osbon "aggressively" grabbed the hands of a flight attendant who confronted him and sprinted down the cabin while being chased.

From inside the locked cockpit, which Osbon tried to re-enter by banging on the door, the co-pilot gave an order through the intercom to restrain Osbon, the affidavit said. Passengers wrestled Osbon to the ground, and one female flight attendant's ribs were bruised.

The federal charges against Osbon were filed in Texas. He was at Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo and remains under a medical evaluation.

Under federal law, a conviction for interference with a flight crew or attendants can bring up to 20 years in prison. The offense is defined as assaulting, intimidating, interfering with or diminishing the crew's ability to operate.

JetBlue spokeswoman Allison Steinberg said earlier Wednesday that Osbon had been suspended pending a review.

The flight left New York and was in the air 3½ hours before landing in Texas. The passengers boarded another plane for Las Vegas several hours later. That plane arrived about two hours later.