A Las Vegas-bound flight was forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot allegedly began behaving erratically, and a portion of the incident was caught on video.
The copilot reportedly became concerned when the pilot started to act erratically shortly after JetBlue Flight 191 departed Monday morning from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to McCarran International.
The copilot convinced the captain to take a bathroom break. That's when he locked him out of the cockpit.
During the flight, the pilot was allegedly running up and down the aisles screaming, passengers said.
He was "screaming and saying to passengers, 'Say your prayers, say your prayers,'" said Paul Babakitis, passenger.
One passenger told the Associated Press she thought she heard the captain use the word "bomb."
"We heard the word 'bomb.' We didn't know exactly what was going on," Heidi Karg told the AP.
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Some passengers, an off-duty pilot and an off-duty police officer helped wrestle the pilot to the ground and restrained him with a belt until the plane landed.
"It appeared like he was trying to open the side door," said passenger David Gonzalez. "So, I wasn't going to let that happen."
Passengers described the captain as acting strange, making rapid head and hand movements.
FBI, TSA, local authorities and medical personell met the flight when it landed at Amarillo.
"Another captain, traveling off duty, entered the flight deck prior to landing at Amarillo and took over the duties of the ill crew member once on the ground," according to the JetBlue statement obtained by Reuters.
The airline described the incident as "a medical situation involving the captain." The pilot was hospitalized and his condition has not been released.
The 135 Vegas-bound passengers continued their trip on another plane.
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