Captain 'subdued' aboard JetBlue flight

[Bosma]

A few years ago an SAA 747 capt on his way home with his wife asked her to stop so he could pop into a local store for a packet of cigs. She double parked while he popped into the shop. That was the last they saw of him. He was found 12 years later living as a homeless hobo on the streets. It took some real effort and time to get him to go back home. Maybe sometimes, the world just becomes too much and for that person, they just want to get off the bus. It is sad and I can only hope he settles down into a normal life cycle again. There, but for the grace of God, go the rest of us, I reckon.

[aterpster]

Here is a different link to the father's Beech Baron accident:


http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001207X03335&ntsbno=MIA95FA107&akey=1 (http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001207X03335&ntsbno=MIA95FA107&akey=1)

[BobM2]

Apparently NTSB has been messing with their website this weekend. If they are finished, this link should work:

Untitled Page (http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001207X03335&ntsbno=MIA95FA107&akey=1)

For those unfamiliar, the Beech Baron he was flying is a low wing light twin with a main & an aux tank in each wing to feed their respective engines. The two fuel selector valves are on a lighted panel between the seats. Each selector has 4 positions: off, aux, main, & crossfeed. The only conceivable way the aircraft could have arrived at the crash site with right wing empty & left wing full, is if it had flown the entire trip with the left engine on crossfeed from the right tanks. This should have early become obvious to any competent pilot from fuel gauges & left wing heaviness. In addition, to select the crossfeed position, the selector valve must be pressed down to bypass a detent. It is intended only for single engine operation & cannot be selected inadvertantly.

Was this a suicide disguised as an accident?

[heli-cal]

A few years ago an SAA 747 capt on his way home with his wife asked her to stop so he could pop into a local store for a packet of cigs. She double parked while he popped into the shop. That was the last they saw of him. He was found 12 years later living as a homeless hobo on the streets. It took some real effort and time to get him to go back home. Maybe sometimes, the world just becomes too much and for that person, they just want to get off the bus.

That's a whole hell of a lot different than what this Capt. did!

It's one thing to quietly go off alone, in the street, quite another to endanger an entire flight as alleged.

[Sillypeoples]

Interesting how Jet Blue passed up on my application but they have nut jobs like this flying their planes. The same could be said of Alaska...the captain decides to fly around for an hour and a half trimming up and down his elevator, getting worse and worse...but evidently I'm not good enough for them. You know, it's just sooo stupid out there right now in aviation, it's beyond pathetic.

[Admiral346]

Well,
obviously they found the two to be competent and appropriatly trained at the time they hired them.
You don't seem to fit that description.
Being smart in hindsight and wanting to take advantage of somebody elses medical problems doesn't make you worth the job, in my opinion.
Zero insight into your own flaws - zero empathy (equals CRM fail).

Find another career -

[sevenstrokeroll]

sillypeoples

I understand your frustration and I hope you don't follow the admirals advice.

When I got my big airline job, I saw a bunch of mediocre pilots...just shocking. So hang in there and maybe things will work out.

I've never held the jetblue organization to be very good...same with alaska.

so try with a few other name lines! And hold on to a sense of humor.

This jetblue pilot in question ...do you ever wonder what might have happened if he had walked up and down the aisle a few times and gotten over what was bugging him? he might have gone on to land in las vegas on time.

we all get pissed off. and ranting a bit can help.

I once listened to my captain rant and rave about the FAA being screwed up on the PA system...we were all so embarrased, me and the three FA's got off the plane on to the jetway till he stopped talking...a deadheading pilot asked: ''is he ok?".

he was ok...just a jerk...

he kept a teddy bear on the anti glare panel named "LUCKY"...it was a pickup device, any FA (girl) that said: what's that? would get: he's lucky...do you want to get lucky?

he also had a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the emergency power switch, looking like we were in a '57 chevy instead of a DC9.

nuts? no? a crack/crank? maybe...he didn't crash though.

maybe the world we live in post 911 is less tollerent of oddballs.

[captjns]

Yep... those Psyche exams really do weed out the nut jobs... don't they:}?

[B772]

After reading some of the posts I am reminded of Silkair 185 (B737-300)

[fotoguzzi]

@BobM2 - [Not a pilot] It seems easier to believe that someone trying to disguise a suicide would switch the selector to a reasonable position at the last moment. That is, one would not leave the Crash-this-airplane selector in the 'On' position if they were trying to make it look like an accident.

That does remind me of the C-130 "King 56" crash where all of the engines were starved. The fuel switches were found to be in unreasonable positions. Family members reckoned that the engineer probably tried all kinds of configurations and they just happened to be in unreasonable positions when the plane hit the water. Was the engineer mentally ill just like the father in the present thread?

[BobM2]

@BobM2 - [Not a pilot] It seems easier to believe that someone trying to disguise a suicide would switch the selector to a reasonable position at the last moment. That is, one would not leave the Crash-this-airplane selector in the 'On' position if they were trying to make it look like an accident.
Maybe "disguised" is wrong terminology since it implies some level of rational thought. Osbon Jr. exhibited totally irrational thought processes on the JetBlue flight. The evidence from his father's crash would point to a similar level of irrational behavior.

[aterpster]

fotoguzzi:

Was the engineer mentally ill just like the father in the present thread?

Don't know whether the father was mentally ill but he was either grossly incompetent and never properly checked out in the Baron or he had wanton disregard for fuel management (to the point of criminal negligence) on a fairly simple light twin.

[misd-agin]

I've never held the jetblue organization to be very good...same with alaska.


SSR - Why? How did you reach your conclusion?

[aewanabe]

@SSR; I've been a JetBlue pilot for five years now, and we undoubtedly have our 5 percenters. That having been said, I'm sure my colleagues whom are ex-Blue Angels, former astronauts, and former USAir, AMR, DL, etc. pilots appreciate you painting with such a broad brush.

Sully is undoubtedly a shining beacon for our profession. I will refrain from citing hull loss statistics and such, but I truly hope you and your family enjoy your flights on USAir.

[aewanabe]

@Sillypeoples, I would submit that your dancing on the grave of the Alaska pilots that fought to keep flying their jet all the way down indicates you would have been a poor fit there.

[aterpster]

aewanabe (http://www.pprune.org/members/204489-aewanabe):

@Sillypeoples, I would submit thatyour dancing on the grave of the Alaska pilots that fought to keep flying theirjet all the way down indicates you would have been a poor fit there.

That was a sad and horrific accident. But, I’ve often wondered why they didn’t land at Lindbergh, or probably better yet Mirimar.

[RatherBeFlying]

Messing up the fuel selectors in the Baron crash falls well within the parameters of human error - and is far from the only case where engine(s) quit with fuel in the tanks somewhere and the crew did not figure out why before terra firma got in the way.

If all of those poor pilots had previously been herded into the loony bin, the psychs would have been collecting so many false positives that anybody volunteering to fly anything would have been instantly committed.

Airplanes do crash regularly because of various forms of human error -- including how engineers program various black boxes to make airplanes "pilotproof".

[sevenstrokeroll]

aterpster...often wondered the same thing...and the idea of having a mechanic on the ground trying to help troubleshoot in the air has its limits.

trying too hard to do the company a favor...?

the big thing was not following manufacturer's reccomendations on how to care for the plane

[aterpster]

RatherBeFlying:

Messing up the fuel selectors in the Baron crash falls well within the parameters of human error - and is far from the only case where engine(s) quit with fuel in the tanks somewhere and the crew did not figure out why before terra firma got in the way.

This was not a crew, it was a single pilot flying a light twin with a somewhat difficult fuel system, but straight-forward for those competent in the airplane.

The lateral imbalance must have been quite significant well before the right engine "yelled Mayday."

[aterpster]

sevenstroke:

aterpster...often wondered the same thing...and the idea of having a mechanic on the ground trying to help troubleshoot in the air has its limits.

trying too hard to do the company a favor...?

the big thing was not following manufacturer's reccomendations on how to care for the plane

The crew was competent, of that there is no doubt. But, they were trying too hard to follow a lousy company script.

That maintenance boss should have been shot off a sub torpedo into the same waters.

[mercurydancer]

Captain Key may well have been dead before PI hit the ground. He was certainly affected by his coronary artery tear and probably incapacitated during the final few minutes of PI flight.

However, I do understand your point. Both Capt Osbon and Key had illnesses which became critical to their performance during flight (to state the bloomin obvious) Both must have had some disease progression before the condition became critical. Key certainly did, as he had had a previous cardiac event caused by underlying atherosclerosis. Osbon probably had some mental affectation prior to him boarding the aircraft.

The moot point is whether Capt Key or Osbon actually understood they were ill and thought to seek medical help. Also it may not have been reasonably foreseeable to either captain that their illnesses were overcoming them.

Medically speaking, the two captains are in two different eras. With Capt Key, his condition may well have not been spotted by the most diligent cardiologist of the time. Today it would be likely that the potential results of atherosclerosis would have been identified (he would equally have been at risk of a stroke) and the previous healed MI would have been identified. Mental health care has also improved dramatically.

As for prosecution - why not? Court is the place to establish the material evidence of Osbon's mental capacity and his awareness of his mental illness. The facts (and expert opinions) will be revealed there and judged upon. If he is innocent under the law then the verdict will vindicate him, even if now he is mentally well. Of course Key is dead so no trial would be possible.

As for the captain who had a teddy bear hanging in the cockpit - may not exactly be SOP but if his rationale is that it helps to get female crew to sleep with him then that is a perfectly solid rationale. Nothing in the slightest bit irrational about that. If, however, he had said that the teddy bear gave him clearly audible commands to fly his aircraft then there would be a cause for concern.

[Bill Harris]

Reuters newsfeed via Yahoo:

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Tuesday found a JetBlue pilot insane and not guilty of interfering with a flight after his bizarre behavior forced an emergency landing in March.
Clayton Osbon, 49, had been charged with interference with a flight crew and could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
Court documents show U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson in Amarillo, Texas, received a report from a psychological examination that concluded, "at the time of the commission of the offense, the defendant appeared to suffer from a severe mental disease or defect that impaired his ability to appreciate the nature, quality, or wrongfulness of his behavior."
All parties, including the prosecutors, agreed to the report.

JetBlue pilot who disrupted flight declared insane, not guilty - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/jetblue-pilot-disrupted-flight-declared-insane-not-guilty-213201509--finance.html;_ylt=AnzWAuahBlTPzVWRs_8Amx.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQy cjlvanZnBG1pdANTZWN0aW9uTGlzdCBGUCBVUwRwa2cDM2U3NDYyMmEtYzIw OS0zOTdhLWI4NzMtN2FkNWM2ZTg1OTM4BHBvcwMyBHNlYwNNZWRpYVNlY3Rp b25MaXN0BHZlcgNmZjNkMzUxMC1jNTVjLTExZTEtYmJiZi0zYmUzYjAwOGQ5 NDc-;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBH BzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3)


--Bill

[deSitter]

It's the right finding and sentence, but it would probably not be an option for a crazy passenger or flight attendant who did similar. Be that as it may, I wish Capt. Osbon well.

-drl

[bubbers44]

Had a TGU crew landing at a short runway at TGU, Honduras have maintenance talk them into using manual override to select landing flaps and landed because normal flaps were inop. Yes, they landed but it was illegal because go around was compromised. Maintenance might know how to make something operate but is it legal? Think about it before you do it.

[SummerLightning]

The verdict sounds eminently humane and sensible. It's inconceivable he'll fly again, but he's rightly been spared jail and I hope Capt Osbon and his family will continue to be supported in finding a way to move forward.

[ChrisJ800]

from yahoo news link:
Several passengers on board the flight have filed suit against JetBlue for gross negligence, saying the airline should have known that he was unfit for duty as a pilot.

Shouldn't they be congratulating the copilot for saving the situation and showing the high standards of JetBlue crew?

[2dPilot]

Court finds Clayton Osbon not guilty because of insanity.

BBC News - 'Insanity' clears JetBlue 'bomb' pilot Clayton Osbon (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18700124)

[Mark in CA]

JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Croyle said Tuesday that the airline "continues to support the Osbon family; we don't have further comment as we let the judicial process play out. We can confirm he is still employed, on inactive status, with JetBlue," she said.

[aterpster]

SummerLightning:

The verdict sounds eminently humane and sensible. It's inconceivable he'll fly again, but he's rightly been spared jail and I hope Capt Osbon and his family will continue to be supported in finding a way to move forward.

Lockdown in the typical U.S. mental hospital is a terrible experience. And, unlike prison, he doesn't get out until some nasty people say he can get out.

[Shell Management]

No doubt now the passengers will all have a claim against JetBlue for employing an insane pilot

[mercurydancer]

Its good to hear that the court considered the evidence and have found him innocent of criminal charges. That is what courts are for.

I hope that Capt Osbon can now find some peace as whilst he was mentally ill at the time of the incident, it does not mean that he does not recall it.

[Heathrow Harry]

Nor does it mean he can't make some contribution in the future - hard to see him coming back as a line pilot but having been through a dreadful illness he may be able to help others before they reach their limit and break down

[captjns]

No doubt now the passengers will all have a claim against JetBlue for employing an insane pilot

No doubt there are many bottom feeding shysters circling the waters.

[Alexander de Meerkat]

A great tragedy for Captain Osbon, and I can only commend JetBlue for being so supportive in a very tricky situation to handle well. It would seem unlikely to me that his future lies in flying commercial aircraft, but I can only find it in my heart to wish him and his family well.

[Airbubba]

A requote from earlier in the thread:

regarding seling the diet milkshakes...

did it occur to any of you that he was using the product himself and somehow got a very low blood sugar causing this odd behavior? an aviation medical examiner from Chicago suggested that low blood sugar could cause this sort of behavior

Talking with a friend who knows Captain Osbon, it appears he was indeed taking the supplement and hawking it to his coworkers at JetBlue. As is often the case with other episodes of abnormal pilot behavior, colleagues noted changes in his mood and affect prior to the inflight outburst. The company was notified but apparently did not take action at the time. JetBlue pilots are nonunion, not sure if they have anything like ALPA's Professional Standards committee to help mitigate personal issues before they reach the disciplinary level.

Of course, these observations are all with the benefit of hindsight, as with any case of someone who is acting odd, but not yet dangerously, it is a tough call of whether or when to intervene as a coworker, family member or employer. An example discussed earlier here is Auburn Calloway, the FedEx 705 hijacker. Looking back, there were multiple signs that Auburn had lied and acted unusually before the hijacking but little was done to remove him from the flight deck.

Auburn Calloway was unsuccessful with his plea of temporary insanity. Some years later he claimed that he had an undiagnosed sleep disorder and that (among the customary other reasons) was why the FDX 705 hijacking trial was unfair:

Today, in calls and letters to USA TODAY, Calloway says his trial wasn't fair. He blames his attack on a sleep-related malady.

"None of the mental health 'experts' at my trial had the requisite experience in sleep medicine pathology to have discovered the 'mental disease or defect' I labored under during my uncharacteristic behavior on board FedEx Flight 705 in 1994," he said.

USATODAY.com - Inside the minds of workplace killers (http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2004-07-14-workplace-killings_x.htm)

[Bill Harris]

Poor man is still having problems with his "demons":


JetBlue pilot has psychotic episode in prison

DALLAS (AP) — The JetBlue Airways pilot who disrupted a cross-country flight by leaving the cockpit and yelling about religion and terrorists has had a psychotic episode in prison and requires further mental evaluation, a judge said Wednesday.


JetBlue pilot has psychotic episode in prison - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/jetblue-pilot-psychotic-episode-prison-194706790.html?_esi=1)

[captjns]

DALLAS (AP) — The JetBlue Airways pilot who disrupted a cross-country flight by leaving the cockpit and yelling about religion and terrorists has had a psychotic episode in prison and requires further mental evaluation, a judge said Wednesday.

Well isn't that special. Perhaps he can retake the Jet Blue Psyche Evaluation again:}.

[Mark in CA]

JetBlue pilot who disrupted flight to be freed - Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/JetBlue-pilot-who-disrupted-flight-to-be-freed-4022393.php)

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A JetBlue Airways pilot who disrupted a cross-country flight by leaving the cockpit and yelling about religion and terrorists should be freed rather than committed to a mental health facility, a Texas judge ruled Friday.

[Airbubba]

Looking over the 'Conditions of Release' document, Osbon is directed to participate in an approved program 'for treatment of narcotic, drug, or alcohol dependency'. Is this just boilerplate or was he found to be under the influence of more than a diet supplement à la Denzel Washington in a recent movie?

Osbon is not allowed to associate with persons convicted of a felony with one handwritten name given as an exception.

He appears to be placed under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office until further order from the Court.

As reported elsewhere, he is ordered not to get on a commercial or private aircraft without getting permission. Also, he is ordered not to 'seek to obtain or retain a commercial or private pilot license'.

[pattern_is_full]

BTW - it doesn't have to be a pilot....

Disorderly passenter causes United 662 to declare emergency landing - UPI.com (http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/11/09/Praying-passenger-forces-emergency-landing/UPI-63811352474498/)