JetBlue pilot on disrupted Las Vegas flight not guilty by reason of insanity

Roberto Rodriguez / AP

Authorities board JetBlue flight 191, which was headed from New York to Las Vegas, after an emergency landing at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Amarillo, Texas, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, when an unruly pilot caused the Las Vegas-bound flight to be diverted. Passengers said the pilot screamed that Iraq or Afghanistan had planted a bomb on the flight, was locked out of the cockpit, and then tackled and restrained by passengers. The pilot who subsequently took command of the aircraft elected to land in Amarillo at about 10 a.m., JetBlue Airways said in a statement.

Associated Press

Tuesday, July 3, 2012 | 3:23 p.m.

AMARILLO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas has found a JetBlue Airways pilot who left the cockpit during a Las Vegas flight and screamed about terrorists not guilty by reason of insanity.

The judge's Tuesday ruling came during a bench trial for Clayton F. Osbon. It noted he suffered from a "severe mental disease or defect." Osbon was earlier deemed mentally competent to stand trial.

The pilot will go to a federal mental health facility for examination until another hearing on or before Aug. 6. The judge will decide then whether Osbon can be released or committed to a mental facility.

Osbon was charged with interfering with a flight crew after the March 27 flight from Las Vegas to New York. Passengers wrestled him to the floor after he ran through the plane's cabin.