JetBlue Airways Flight 191

JetBlue Airways Flight 191

An Airbus A320-200, the type of aircraft involved in the incident.
Incident summary
Date	March 27, 2012
Summary	Diversion due to in-flight crew incident
Site	Near Amarillo, Texas
Passengers	135
Survivors	135 (all)
Aircraft type	Airbus A320-232
Aircraft name	100% Blue
Operator	JetBlue Airways
Registration	N796JB
Flight origin	John F. Kennedy Airport
Destination	McCarran International Airport

JetBlue Flight 191 was a scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight on airline JetBlue from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pilot incident in 2012

On March 27, 2012, Captain Clayton Osbon was locked out of the cockpit by First Officer Jason Dowd and was subdued by passengers after he started acting erratically and apparently suffered from a panic attack. The aircraft was then diverted to Amarillo, Texas. Osbon received medical treatment by Northwest Texas Healthcare System.

Osbon was charged with "interference with a flight crew."

The first officer grew concerned when Osbon made comments such as "We need to take a leap of faith", "We're not going to Vegas", and "I can't be held responsible when this plane crashes." Osbon began giving what the first officer described as a sermon. Later, in the cabin, Osbon railed at passengers about Jesus, Al-Qaeda and a possible bomb on board. Alarmed passengers tackled him and tied him up with seat belt extenders until the plane landed about 20 minutes later.

The 49-year-old Osbon was suspended from work after being with JetBlue for 12 years. He had attended Carnegie Mellon University and graduated in 1987 from Nathaniel Hawthorne College, an aeronautics and aviation college located in New Hampshire founded in 1962, but which closed in 1988.

On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity of the charge of interference with the flight crew by an Amarillo, Texas-based federal judge, Judge Mary Lou Robinson. Mr. Osbon was then ordered to be held pending a further investigation; he was then immediately transferred to a mental health facility in Fort Worth for additional treatment.

After Captain Osbon was evaluated in a federal mental health facility in North Carolina, on November 9, 2012, US District Judge Robinson freed him under the provisions that he continue mental health treatment, follow a prescribed medication regimen, and meet a variety of other conditions. Osbon must continue to be monitored by his probation officer for an undetermined amount of time. "This is a bad situation for you and your family, but you are very fortunate to have the type of immediate support you have," Robinson said. "Good Luck, Mr. Osbon."

On March 27, 2015, passengers filed a suit against JetBlue for $14.9 million, claiming that the airline did not ensure Osbon was fit to fly, and endangered the lives of the crew and the passengers. Osbon's suit against his employer was filed several days after Germanwings Flight 9525 crash, in which the co-pilot deliberately crashed the plane killing all the people aboard. The suit was settled the following month; terms of the settlement were not disclosed to the public.