Judge rules JetBlue pilot Clayton Osbon competent to stand trial

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

(CBS/AP) AMARILLO, Texas - A judge ruled Friday that a JetBlue Airways pilot who left the cockpit during a flight and screamed about religion and terrorists is mentally competent to stand trial.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson issued her ruling in Amarillo after hearing evidence about 49-year-old Clayton F. Osbon's mental competency.

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Osbon recently underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation at a medical facility to see if he could assist properly in his defense and to determine if he was sane at the time of the alleged offense. Robinson ruled Friday that the evaluation should be sealed.

He was indicted in April on one charge of interfering with a flight crew. The offense is defined as assaulting or intimidating the crew, interfering with its duties or diminishes its ability to operate the plane.

If convicted, Osbon could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

The allegation stems from an in-air incident March 27 after the plane left New York for Las Vegas.

Osbon, of Richmond Hills, Ga., who has been with JetBlue since 2000, allegedly ran through the plane's cabin yelling about Jesus and al Qaeda. The first officer locked him out of the cockpit and passengers wrestled him to the floor before the plane made an emergency landing in Amarillo.

CBS News reported that a source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the captain was behaving erratically and kept complaining about the noise on the radio, asking to "keep the chatter down." He was "speaking incoherently" in the cockpit and pressing incorrect buttons on the flight panel.

Shortly after leaving New York on the five-hour flight, Osbon started rambling about religion to the first officer, according to court documents. He scolded air traffic controllers to quiet down, then turned off the radios altogether, and dimmed the monitors in the cockpit. He said aloud that "things just don't matter" and encouraged his co-pilot that they take a leap of faith.

"We're not going to Vegas," Osbon said, according to the affidavit.

Osbon was suspended after the incident. CBS News reported that prior to the incident, Osborn had completed a medical exam in December 2011, which also took a look at his mental health. Had he sent out any warning signs about his psychological condition, he would not have been allowed to fly. JetBlue Airways spokeswoman Sharon Jones said Thursday that Osbon remains an employee and his status is inactive.

[thesparky1000]

Another reason we desperately need GUILTY WHILE INSANE. Society needs for this man to have a felony conviction so he cannot go out and get a permit to run a daycare, carry a gun, buy explosives, be a law officer or a teacher and all the protections of the GWI designation. Time is ripe for us to change our criminal justice system to remove all non-violent drug convictions from the prison system and make room for people like Clayton F. Osbon. At some day in the future, we will be forced to do it just to keep him from ever holding another pilot license.

[JustThink123]

1. I agree this was not a felony.

2. Those passengers make me mad; nothing happened to them. The pilot had his medical screening.

3. This is an example of what's wrong with America today--assigning undue blame and seeking compensation for what should be considered part of life.

[rnrstar]

There is obviously a mental or at least medical issue here so why is this in the courts?

[amurguz]

I couldn't agree with you more. I also agree with those that bring up the fact the flight landed in Texas, the most egregious state to warrant charges that, for all intensive purposes, don't make any sense. Seems to me that he came "unglued" in some kind of a mental meltdown. That they will probably deal it down to where he loses his pilots license, at least his professional one, and that he will have to attend some sort of anger management, mental health classes? But, then again, it is Texas and they could set out to make an example out of him. In any event, tis a sad, sad, story.

[bobnjersey]

[He was indicted in April on one charge of interfering with a flight crew. The offense is defined as assaulting or intimidating the crew, interfering with its duties or diminishes its ability to operate the plane. If convicted, Osbon could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison]
-----------------------------------
he was the crew ... in fact ... 'the' most important member of the crew.

20 years seems just a bit excessive ... for him ... or for anyone that's charged w/ this offense.

[spencercollins]

It is excessive, like a lot of American sentences. I read in the paper today of Allen Stanford, a 62 year old who was jailed for 110 years. Even a young fit man cannot be expected to survive a sentence of that length. Why not just call it a life sentence?

[skitbit]

This man's real "crime" was landing in Texas.