JetBlue pilot leaves hospital, appears in court

Caption: Clayton Osbon, a JetBlue Airways captain charged with disrupting a Las Vegas-bound flight, is seen in this booking photo taken after the march 27, 2012 incident. / Randall County Sheriff's Dept.

Last Updated 1:58 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) AMARILLO, Texas - A JetBlue Airways captain charged with disrupting a Las Vegas-bound flight after he left the cockpit screaming about religion and terrorists should remain in federal custody without bond, prosecutors told a judge Monday.

Clayton Osbon smiled at his wife and JetBlue employees who watched his first federal court appearance from the gallery, but did not speak other than to tell the judge he understood his rights and the charges against him.

Osbon, 49, was not asked to enter a plea during the 10-minute hearing. U.S. Magistrate Judge Clinton E. Averitte is expected to rule on the bond issue at a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal at the Randall County Jail, reports CBS Affiliate KFDA.

The pilot faces federal charges of interfering with his own flight crew before the New York-to-Las Vegas flight was diverted to an emergency landing in Amarillo. Under federal law, a conviction can bring up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors requested that Osbon not be released on bond, stating in their motion for detention that there were "no conditions of release which will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community." (This was based on the charge being a crime of violence).

Osbon order on initial appearance (pdf)
Osbon motion for detention (pdf)

Osbon has remained in Amarillo since the plane he was piloting last Tuesday was forced to make an emergency landing there following his bizarre unraveling on Flight 191. Passengers wrestled Osbon to the ground after witnesses said he ran through the cabin yelling about Jesus and al Qaeda, and then restrained him with seat belt extenders.

A flight attendant's ribs were bruised while trying to restrain Osbon, but no one on board was seriously hurt.

Osbon was taken to an Amarillo hospital for a medical evaluation and remained there for several days.

JetBlue pilot's case in Texas court
JetBlue black boxes head to D.C. for analysis

Osbon wore normal clothes in the courtroom, dressed in a green shirt and baggy green pants. He was shackled at the feet. His attorney, Dean Roper, declined to comment after the hearing.

Connye Osbon hurried to a waiting car outside the courthouse following her husband's hearing.

On Sunday Connye released a statement thanking those involved and asking for privacy.

"We would like to recognize the crew and passengers of Flight 191 for their effective, yet compassionate handling of the situation," the statement said. "It is our belief, as Clayton's family that, while he was clearly distressed, he was not intentionally violent toward anyone."

That last part of the statement could be a key distinction in the case against him, said CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. If the case ever goes to trial, prosecutors will have to prove not only that Osbon interfered with the flight crew, but that he had the mental capacity to understand what he was doing, and that it was wrong.

Lawyers will also be looking at whether Osbon's condition was medical, or if it may have been brought on by a substance he did not disclose to regulators.

"The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has a very stringent list of medications - drugs that they are allowed to take while they are actually on flying status," said CBS News aviation and transportation safety analyst Mark Rosenker, a former National Transportation Safety Board head.

Questions about Osbon's mental state will be directed primarily to his doctors.

Investigators say Osbon told his co-pilot "things just don't matter" and incoherently rambled about religion shortly after the flight departed from New York. His behavior became more erratic as the flight wore on, prosecutors say, and ended with a tense struggle in the cabin after Osbon abruptly left the cockpit.

Longtime friends and fellow pilots have said they don't recall Clayton Osbon having any previous mental or health problems.

Lawyers will also be drawing on recordings from the plane's black boxes. The NTSB has completed its work on tapes from the cockpit and plans to work on flight data information this week.

[SusanWilshusen]

I found a description of drug induced psychosis in which there is the wording used by the landlady of Clayton Osbon's New York crash pad. Clayton Osbon, 12 year Jet Blue pilot, worked for 25 years without incident and after, in my opinion, being drugged by someone connected with crash pads or other source reacted to the locked cockpit door by assuming his plane had been hijacked and that there was a danger situation. I called and emailed Clayton Osbon's attorney's office asking him to get all of the evidence in this case which should involve finding, in my opinion, poisoning of the food and or water in Osbon's aptly named crash pad or other source. Landlady said, " I don't know" twice. That is the exact verbiage in the Mental help.com website on Drug Induced Psychosis! If his attorney pleads insanity for Clayton Osbon, in my opinion, he is doing his client a disservice. Persons guilty of tampering with a pilot to induce psychosis by poisonong him cumulatively or by other means should be prosecuted for endangering all passengers and embarrassing, harming a 25 year pilot! Censure any legal representation that fails to get all forensic evidence that exists of pilot tmapering!

[SusanWilshusen]

I do not mean to reply to my own comment or post twice. I ask if pilot Osbon was drugged by the landlady of his crash pad and endangered all the airline passengers on Clayton Osbon's flight and ruined the life of Clayton Osbon. Why did Clayton Osbon's attorney and wife did not even care enough about the truth to find the evidence of drug induced psychosis and prosecuting the persons responsible instead of pleading insanity when, in my opinion, pilot Osbon is not insane but was druggged with bath salts or other psychosis inducing drug. What a terrible miscarrige of justice! What kind of world are we liing in and what good are our courts if a selective collecting of and presentation of evidence can change the outcome of a trial affecting lives irrevocably and forever? Are there any attorneys that will ask for a retrial for Clayton Osbon and the cross examination of the crash pad landlady that was quoted on internet news as saying "I don't know," which is, ver batim, the verbiage in a wesite calld Medhelp.com website when the search criteria "drug induced psychosis" is typed. How can anyonme let the drugger endanger all of those airline passengers, maybe more than once, ruin Osbon's life and not be put in prison if she did drug Clayton Osbon? This is a thought and the persons invloved could not be that grandiose and evil but did Clayton Osbon's crash pad landlady drug Clayton Osbon with bath salts, said to induce psychosis, because he liked a celebrity that said in an interview that she liked taking baths? Is that why the celebrity made show of liking a man Osbon's age?

[SusanWilshusen]

Dont mean to reply to own comment. Sorry for typos. My pc cursor is not typing when I press some of the keys. It's so bad my corrections have errors. The website that had the "I don't know," which is verbatim what an internet article reported that pilot Clayton Osbon's crash pad landady said about the, in my opinion, drug induced psychosis of veteran pilot Clayton Osbon, was MentalHelp.net if I remember though the exact text I did not find.

[SusanWilshusen]

I found a description of drug induced psychosis in which there is the wording used by the landlady of Clayton Osbon's New York crash pad. Clayton Osbon, 12 year Jet Blue pilot, worked for 25 years without imncident and after, in my opinion being drugged by someone connected with Crash pads or other source reacted to the locked cockpit door by assuming the plane had been hijacked and that thee was a danger situation. I called and emaild Clayton Osbon's attorney's office asking him to get all of the evidence in this case which should involve finding, in my opinion, poisonong of the food and or water in Osbon's aptly named crash pad or other source. Landlady said, " I don't know" twice. There is the exact verbiage in the Mental help.com website on Drug Induced Psychosis. If his attorney pleads insanity for Clayton Osbon, in my opinion, he is doing his client a disservice.

[SusanWilshusen]

Will verify the the name of the wesite that, in its drug induced psychsis definition matched the internet news comment of pilot Clayton Osbon crash pad landlady of, 'I don't know. In my opinion, she, if she drugged pilot Caton Osbon, and others that drugged pilot Osbon should be prosecuted and convicted for endangering pilot Osbon and hundred of commercal airline passengers and sentenced. What is the prison sentence for that? How an attorney fail to produce the relevant evidence for a case let his client be adversely affected and not be disbarred?

[Johnston1212]

Don't think however that he will ever fly a plane again. Too many lives to die if there is another meltdown. He seems to have a good family and I wish him the best but looks like a risk no one will want to make. Sad story but so far no one has been killed.

[rwsmith29456]

It seems obvious that the guy is mentally ill and it's fortunate that they were able to get him under control without crashing a plane full of people. If there are charges against him I hope the verdict is to receive medical attention and to never be in a cockpit again.

[skitbit]

This man has medical issues and should not be criminally charged. He will never, however, fly with a major airline again.

[dnamj]

Anyone still think it's a good idea to arm pilots? Just wondering.

[Herne42]

I think "we", as a society, have utterly failed in the treatment of people with mental illnesses.

I do believe this pilot Had a temporary meltdown. I do not believe he should be condemned for it.... I'm man enough to say, that I've broken down a few times....granted,... i wasn't flying a plane....

Give him, at least a co-pilot position ... for a awhile. proper therapy, sleep, and a decent diet....and pot.(not while he's flying though.)..booze is bad. and prescription meds are worse....just my opinion of course. (I live in a city, and im tired of the drunks pissing on my doorstep and starting fights. did I mention the newly released pedophile pervert down the street....yup, prohibition is stupid).......anyways..

i think this guy deserves a break. :) , and some help.

[themanfrombrum]

Totally agree with you that society has failed in the treatment of people with mental illnesses. I live outside the USA where a relative is in a mental institution. On visiting, you can smell the urine and excrement and patients screaming as you walk into the run-down complex. It's hell on earth. The pilot's wife and family will need all the support they can get for Mr. Osbon from PROFESSIONAL people along with help from their neighborhood community.

[Marchesa-Ann]

I also believe this is a medical problem. He has been a pilot for ten years without previous incidents and should not be shackled to appear in court. The hospiital records should tell whether he took pills or not or if it was a breakdown. This situation could happen to any one of us. And he doesn't deserve prison time. He needs complete rest for several months then the airlines should decide whether to take him back or not.

[jwnice234]

Never fly a jet airliner again. 20 years? Possibility of landing light inspector job in Podunk, Iowa. No way, not a chance.

Rambling about religion in cockpit, and then what? Whose sensibilities are offended here or who cares one miota where he was and never will be again. He should thank god I think. Flip it all off and move on. Will there be severance pay or long term care in state hospital?

[mahalo2011]

I agree how much crazier can this get?? Nobody is mentioning the fact that he has also been VERY TRAINED to think that his plane has been taken over if he "the captain" has been locked out. What people are failing see that as the first in command, when locked out of your own cockpit you SHOULD be glad that he thought that instead of judging him. Personally, I would be scared if something in his brain didn't think that. There IS another side to this story just remember that before you make assumptions. Nothing was intentionally done here...shackles really??? they don't even do that to rapists and murders.