Words generate heat Part 2

US flight diverted after pilot is restrained

Las Vegas-bound flight forced to divert after captain displayed "erratic behaviour" and was subdued by passengers. Last Modified: 28 Mar 2012 10:19

A JetBlue flight bound for Las Vegas was diverted to Texas following what federal authorities described as "erratic behaviour" by the captain, who passengers said had to be restrained after he pounded on the locked cockpit door. The captain went to a toilet just outside the cockpit, and when he emerged began shouting "Iraq, al-Qaeda, terrorism, we're all going down!" according to the Amarillo Globe-News newspaper. "It was a little scary. He was pretty freaked out," passenger Heidi Karg told a US network. "When they were trying to calm him down... they had to restrain him and a bunch of male passengers ran to the front of the plane to subdue him." The FBI is investigating the incident on Flight 191 from New York, which had 135 passengers on board, when the pilot-in-command decided to redirect the plane to Amarillo, Texas. JetBlue said in a statement the flight was diverted due to a "medical situation" involving the captain, but made no mention of any commotion on board. Passengers who were on the plane described a chaotic mid-flight scene in which the man, apparently locked out of the cockpit, began banging on the door and demanding to be let inside. "People behind me, a bunch of big guys, started going up there and trying to help, and we found out that the guy banging was actually the pilot, and he was trying to get into the cockpit because the other co-pilot had locked him out," passenger Grant Heppes said. "Everybody seemed pretty nervous," he added. "Nobody was sure what was going on. Everybody seemed very concerned." Karg said the captain had been pounding on the door saying: "I need the code. Give me the code." Another woman on the plane said local law enforcement met passengers at the gate and interviewed them. 'Onboard medical emergency'  The plane, which took off from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, had been scheduled to land at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. JetBlue said that following a medical situation with the captain, another captain who was travelling off-duty entered the flight deck prior to the landing and "took over the duties of the ill crew member once on the ground". The crew member was removed from the aircraft and taken to a local medical facility. The airline brought in another aircraft and crew to take the passengers to Las Vegas, JetBlue said. The Federal Aviation Administration cited an "onboard medical emergency" as the reason for the diversion, and said preliminary information showed the co-pilot became concerned that the captain had "exhibited erratic behavior during the flight." "The captain had exited the cockpit during the flight, after which the co-pilot locked the door," the statement said. "When the captain attempted to enter the locked cockpit, he was subdued by passengers. "After the flight landed safely, local law enforcement secured the pilot without incident and he was transported by ambulance for medical evaluation." An Amarillo police spokeswoman declined to comment on the incident, but said her department was assisting the FBI. Two weeks ago, a flight attendant started ranting about a possible crash over the public address system of an American Airlines plane. She, too, was subdued by passengers and crew as the plane returned to the gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/03/201232851646254661.html 1.      What is the link to Crisis Management? As stated in the previous blog this is a crisis for JetBlue and other airlines when reviewing the past few years of pilot and steward/stewardess erratic behaviour. As shown in the video of this article JetBlue had the incident of a steward inflating the emergency slide and going down it as he quit his job. Also shown in the video was a stewardess having a nervous breakdown over the PA system. These kinds of scenarios make you wonder who/how we allow some people to serve us in the air.  2.      What stage of Crisis Management does the system appear to be at?  Although in Part 1 of this blog the situation seemed to be at a major issue now it seems to have moved over to risk. Reason being in the first article this pilot was supposed to be a dead-head (an employee taking a flight but not piloting it) now the article shows that the person was the captain of the airplane. Having these kinds of situations more and more often on plane is quite scary. Being in the air is already a very vulnerable position there is no need for added risks. 3.      How well does the system appear to be handling the situation?  JetBlue released a statement to the public saying they are investigating the incident. They are trying their best to externalize the situation and put all the owness on the captain. Little are they seeing that the captain's name is associated with JetBlue, after all, they hired him right...JetBlue released a statement that this was an isolated case of erratic behaviour, which it could very well be, but this was also a captain for JetBlue flights that was flying planes for an unknown amount of years.  4.      What level of crisis preparedness does the system appear to have?  It really does not seem that this situation had much crisis preparedness, it was lucky that a corrections officer and NYPD officer were onboard to help with the situation of subduing the pilot, but other than that they seem to have no assistance in the air. The co-pilot had to lock the cockpit to ensure he could safely land the plane.  5.      What personal reactions/feelings does the description trigger in you?  As in the previous article, this is a scary story. Not only is it scary because of the incident happening in the air but also because of how the words of the pilot seem to be changing. Before the passengers reported hearing the words "Israel, Iraq/Afghanistan," now it seems the words have become "Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, bomb." A recent article published by a psychological journal addressed myths, it stated that it’s actually a fact that hallucinations are more real than people think they are, maybe all that lack of oxygen to pilot’s heads is creating a bit more hallucinations than are normal. 6.      What advice would you offer to those involved? I would suggest that JetBlue immediately check their scheduling standards, maybe the employees are being over-worked leading to manic episodes and erratic behaviour. They should also screen for mental erratic behaviour when they hire their employees especially those employees who will be frequent flyers.  As for now JetBlue needs to maintain 100% transparency on what exactly happened in the plane with statement from the co-pilot and passengers who were close to the situation on the plane. JetBlue should inform the public.