FOR: The pilot gabs with a flight attendant in this cellphone image.
FLAKE-OFF: Passengers later said Osbon’s behavior seemed odd.
Clayton Osbon (Getty Images)
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First he made small talk — then he went nuts.
In the moments before JetBlue pilot Clayton Osbon threw a terrifying tantrum aboard a flight from JFK to Las Vegas last week, he appeared to be the picture of calm, according to a newly released video of the terrifying incident.
In the footage, Capt. Osbon can be seen chatting with flight attendants, one of whom is even smiling.
The other flight attendant goes on about her business, as Osbon talks and sips water.
Moments later, he went berserk, prompting passengers to hold him down while the plane made an emergency landing.
Tony Antolino, the passenger who shot the footage, said he was frightened for his life and wanted to preserve a record in case of disaster.
“I, at least, wanted something so that, God forbid, the phone was found in a field somewhere, maybe there would be some tip, some hint for someone to say OK, hey, what was going on here,” Antolino told CBS News, which first broadcast the video.
Antolino told the network that, despite Osbon’s seeming calm in the video, people could tell that something was wrong from the things he was saying. Antolino said that, as he filmed, he was afraid Osbon was moments away from “completely coming apart.”
A video released the day of the incident showed passengers sitting on the veteran pilot as the co-pilot and an off-duty pilot landed the aircraft in Amarillo, Texas.
After the landing, Osbon, 49, was arrested and charged with interfering with a flight crew.
A judge in his case has ordered a psychiatric test.
“The examination should determine whether Osbon is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him,” US District Judge Mary Lou Robinson wrote.
The order also states that the examiner should determine if Osbon is “unable to appreciate the nature and quality of the wrongfulness of his acts.”
In an unusual twist, the test was ordered at the request of federal prosecutors. In their request for the psych test, federal prosecutors recounted the details of the March 27 incident aboard JetBlue Flight 191. They recalled how Osbon ranted maniacally, including shouting “pray f—king now for Jesus Christ” as he was held down.
The co-pilot locked the cock-pit door as passengers held Osbon, who was ranting about Iraq and Iran terrorists, they said.
Legal experts said it was odd for the prosecution to call for a pscyh test, but in this case it seemed to make sense.
“[Prosecutors] don’t want to launch down the road of a full-blown prosecution, spending resources and court time if at the end of that process he’s not guilty by reason of insanity,” said McGregor Scott, a former federal prosecutor.