JetBlue captain irked by cockpit "chatter"

A JetBlue captain later identified as Clayton Osbon is removed from one of the airline's planes March 28, 2012, in Amarillo, Texas. / Steve Miller/The Reporter's Edge

Updated at 3:01 p.m. ET

(CBS News) Some of the bizarre behavior exhibited by a JetBlue Airways captain mid-flight Tuesday included unnecessarily fiddling with the plane's controls and complaining of "too much noise" into the radio monitored by air traffic controllers and other pilots, CBS News investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed new details to Milton of what happened in the cockpit before Clayton Osbon, 49, behaved erratically and was subdued in the cabin by passengers of Flight 191 between New York and Las Vegas. Osbon was taken into FBI custody in Amarillo, Texas, after the plane made an emergency landing there.

Captain Clayton Osbon at JetBlue event at LAX Airport on June 17, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

/ Getty/Soul Brother/WireImage

In addition to complaining about the noise into the radio, Osbon also said to "keep the chatter down." CBS News' Carter Yang reports that Osbon was improperly pressing buttons on the flight panel and "speaking incoherently" in the cockpit, according to a source.

JetBlue said Wednesday that Osbon "has been removed from active duty" pending an investigation involving multiple federal and local agencies, Yang reports.

JetBlue captain could face charges from meltdown
JetBlue fliers: Captain was "deranged," "erratic"
Passengers: JetBlue pilot reached for plane door

On Wednesday, Osbon was being guarded by Amarillo police officers while undergoing between two and three days of psychiatric testing to try and determine what may have led to what passengers described as a meltdown, Milton reports.

Charges are expected to be brought against Osbon as early as Wednesday afternoon. Those charges may include interfering with the flight crew, the type of charge that can be applied to passengers refusing to turn off their cell phone in-flight, in addition to probably more serious charges.

According to Federal Aviation Administration documents, Osbon's last medical exam was in December, and he was cleared to fly, Yang reports. The exam is primarily a physical, but "psychological condition" is also taken into account, and the medical examiner can order additional testing. If Osbon showed signs of mental instability in the exam, he wouldn't have received clearance to fly.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that authorities haven't found any known associations between Osbon and terrorist groups.

On "CBS This Morning" Wednesday, Miller said that the investigation has shifted its focus to what medical reasons, if any, could explain Osbon's erratic behavior.

(At left, watch Miller's conversation with co-hosts Erica Hill, Gayle King and Charlie Rose)

"What the FBI needs to find out now is everything they can about this guy and what could have caused this, either physiologically, mentally, chemically," Miller said.

Investigators have spoken with Osbon's wife, who told them he didn't display any signs of abnormal behavior in front of her, Milton reports. Investigators learned from other interviews that Osbon had a great reputation, was highly regarded among his colleagues and assisted in JetBlue's pilot training program.

Osbon's behavior Tuesday prompted the flight's co-pilot to convince Osbon to leave the cockpit by saying something like he should splash water on his face. While Osbon was in the lavatory, the co-pilot instructed a flight attendant on the plane's intercom system to immediately bring into the cockpit an off-duty captain who was traveling as a passenger.

With the off-duty captain inside the cockpit, the co-pilot changed the combination lock to the door before Osbon could return.

On "CBS This Morning," passengers Tony Antolino and retired New York police Sgt. Paul Babakitis described Osbon as "deranged," "emotionally disturbed" and "erratic" while he was in the cabin.

"He started ranting about Iraq, Iran, 'they're going to take us down,' uh, 'say the Lord's prayer,'" said Antolino, "and then at that point we literally just tackled him to the ground and restrained him."

Babakitis wasn't the only person with a law enforcement background on the flight. Also among the passengers was a corrections guard who Milton reports was travelling to Las Vegas to attend an international security conference.

[garrisongetar]

The pilot is reportedly a kind, friendly, outgoing, church-going, family man. As Rodney Dangerfield used to say in his standup routine,'you hear about guys like him all the time,then,one day, he picks up an axe and wipes out the whole family'.

[wendysandvig]

It is sad the world is so uneducated about Mental Health. Having a brilliant Bi-polar son who has had two major manic breakdowns I have educated myself through NAMI on these life altering medical conditions. No one chooses to have this condition, but life can be successful with proper medication. Do people mock those with diabetic seizures. Come on world, be kind we are all fighting a battle of some kind or another....

[notreich]

Apparently this fellow won't have too much trouble claiming a mental angle. Alternately, he sounds a fine candidate for the Tea Party.

[julianpenrod]

Since their acknowledgement in 1997, the program of doping the atmosphere with chemicals to facilitate weather control, what has come to be known as "chemtrails", has overseen immense changes in the nature of the atmosphere. Among other things, the worst spate of hurricane season on record; tornadoes occurring where they were one\ce unknown, like Brooklyn; record breaking hundred degree heat waves from London to Siberia; glaciers disappearing at vastly accelerated rates; the National Weather Service having to recalculate wind chill to reflect the fact that the air now holds more heat than it used to; bees disappearing; the arrival of unprecedented hundred mile per hour straight line wind storms, "super derechos"; the U.S. government having to put out an issue of stamps "commemorating" different cloud types, so people wouldn't be startled when unusual clouds starting forming where they didn't use to; the development of the first new cloud species in half a century, the undulatus aspiratus.
Among the most egregious effects, hower, has been air becoming less able to support aircraft. Six or seven years ago, this took the form of spates of about three weeks when air crashes were a daily or every other day event, separated by periods of a few months. Since that time, the spates became longer and the separations shorter. Now, it appears patches of denatured air exist everywhere in the atmosphere. Commercial airlines do what they can to avoid flying into them. "Accidents", "malfunctions" and "incidents" on the tarmac preventing flying into such unnatural atmosphere are abnormally frequent. "Accidents", "malfunctions" and "incidents" to "justify" diverting about such patches of air, are unprecedentedly frequent. "Delays" and "cancellations" are at unheard of levels. Never before did a place return to the terminal because two men aboard were wearing "imam garb"; never before did a pilot refuse to take off because a young man was wearing baggy jeans that showed his underwear; never before did a pilot suddenly decide not to take off because she suddenly decided a part she knew before was broken needed to be replaced. This incident sounds like just another fraudulent "incident" meant to divert a flight from its destination. If they have to arrange for a flight to "overshoot its destination" because the pilots were "preoccupied", they will.
If this continues, eventually, no one but the corporate rich, politizcally powerful, societally influential, and the military and police will be allowed to fly, and only in the non-aerodynamic triangular and diamond shaped drones that are being reported seen.

[CHPM]

Please....seek help.

[host57]

Just thought I'd throw this up here.. my girlfriend has recently started anti-depressants due to another medical condition that appeared out of nowhere.

Here's the interesting part. She puts her meds in one of those SMTWTFS boxes with the morning/noon/bed deals. She refilled the whole week and forgot to put the anti-depressant in the 'morning' box along with other meds and vitamins. For the next 4 days each morning she just popped them open and took them (without examining the contents to know that anti-depressant was missing). This mean basically after 6 weeks she went cold-turkey for almost a week. She had an episode very much like this guy. From OK.. then just started talking weird and instantly it went pretty far out there within an hour or 2. The doctor was called after we figured it out and he said "oh yea that's a bad one to stop".

Long story short, if this guy was on meds, and forgot to take them.. I've seen this same thing happen.. should he be charged for accidentally missing his medicine regimine?

I remember another story recently where they said pilots were allowed to be on anti-depressants.

[tompalm]

Revelant and welcome input. Thanks for posting.

[GenuineAmerican]

The poor man had a mental breakdown and they intend to file Federal charges against him?

[trglazier]

He was reciting the lords Prayer? Time for an orange jump suite and one way ticket to Gitmo!

[KnowerseekerReturns]

No, it's not quite time for that yet. Give it another generation or two.

[Scimajor]

It seems blindingly obvious that he was ill. Whether his illness was a mental illness, a biological illness or a self inflicted chemical illness is what needs to be determined.

[robbyr2]

This is a good argument for allowing pilots to be armed with handguns, right?

[Scimajor]

No, it's a good argument for making it really difficult for ANYONE to get a gun.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

"keep the chatter down." -- Aliens were telling him to do the bad things....