Steven Slater Pleads Guilty to Criminal Mischief; Ex-JetBlue Flight Attendant Took Off with Infamous Exit

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant whose fame took off after his "take this job and shove it" meltdown, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted criminal mischief and will undergo counseling.

PICTURES: Steven Slater, JetBlue Flight Attendant

Appearing in a New York City court, Slater was ordered to undergo at least a year of counseling and substance-abuse treatment.

He will get no jail time and a year of probation if he completes the program to the judge's satisfaction. If he does not, he will get one to three years in jail.

Slater's dramatic "escape" occurred Aug. 9 aboard a JetBlue Airways Corp. flight from Pittsburgh that had just landed at Kennedy International Airport. Officials say the veteran flight attendant got on the loudspeaker, cursed at passengers, then slid down the plane's emergency chute with a beer.

He resigned from JetBlue, but not before his self-styled evacuation propelled him to the front pages, making him the focus of a national conversation about job frustration, and turned him into an Internet folk-hero.

Now he's grounded.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF STEVEN SLATER ON CRIMESIDER