On Monday morning, a pilot was kicked out of the cockpit of JetBlue flight 191. He then started running around the airplane, and began yelling obscene things and talking about bombs and al-Qaida threats. According to a passenger on the flight, Heidi Karg, the pilot was also shouting “I need the code, gimme the code, I need to get in there.”
According to a statement from JetBlue, about 6 to 10 passengers pinned down the pilot, and the plane was able to make an emergency landing at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. Although the pilot hasn’t been named, TSA officials say he has a medical condition, and he was transported to a hospital. The passenger who took down the pilot works in security and was able to choke the pilot in order to take him down, according to Gabriel Schonzeit, a passenger on the flight.
Luckily, there was a captain on the plane that was off-duty who was able to take over for the other pilot.
Who knows what this pilot would have done if these brave passengers hadn’t stepped up and helped take care of this crazy situation? It just goes to show what people can do when they stick together. What would you do if something like this happened to you?
Top photo credit: Steve Miller/The Reporter’s Edge
