Just watched a clip of the Jet Blue pilot -- disturbing.

[gateley]

The man obviously had some kind of breakdown, yet he's facing charges of interfering with a flight with a possible sentence of 20 years.

Have we no JUSTICE? Have we no COMPASSION? He needs help, not incarceration.

[Mz Pip]

1. I remember an incident

maybe 15-20 years ago where a pilot had some kind of a meltdown over the Atlantic Ocean. He crashed the jet into the ocean killing over 200. I agree this guy need help but he seriously endangered a lot of people. Justice and compassion aren't mutually exclusive.

[Warpy]

2. He needs to be off the street but in a hospital not a prison

Justice is not served by sending him to a prison for something that was out of his control.

The guy who had a meltdown was an Egyptian who was facing the end of his career as a pilot. The doors didn't lock back then so he was able to take a planeload of people with him when he decided to go out doing what he loved.

[Proles]

3. I find it funny that the captain is being charged

with interfering with the flight crew, yet technically he was part of the flight crew, and in charge of it.

Anyways, it'd be interesting to figure out just WHY he went crazy. Was it a medical issue? Drugs? Stress/family issues? Depending on the answer should determine whether or not he serves prison time. Hell, maybe it was some crazy terrorist plot to drug airline crew members. Why is this happening so soon after the American Airlines flight attendant goes nuts? People don't have otherwise long, successful careers, only to have them end abruptly in a fit of insanity.

I think prison is pointless though. Just revoke his medical/license so he can't fly again (at least airliners for sure), and get him some mental help... not prison.

[backscatter712]

4. He needs medical care.

My guess is that he had something like undiagnosed diabetes. Extremely low blood sugar may cause a person to flip out like this captain did.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Even a tiny brain clot or a TIA would be enough to cause something like that. nt

[IDemo]

9. If undiagnosed, his blood glucose levels would have been extremely high, if anything

Only if he were on an insulin regimen might his sugars drop into the danger zone where behavior like this is seen. High BG levels can cause mental confusion as well, but not the kind of adrenalized excitability as seen here.

[RKP5637]

6. In the US punishment is doled out as a 'cure all' for almost everything. We

are a very backward nation, true, not as much as some, but we are clearly backward. Exactly as you said, "Have we no JUSTICE? Have we no COMPASSION? He needs help, not incarceration."

And look at what we do often, for example, with people with drug issues, we imprison them. Corporate prisons are profitable for some and the profiteers have no difficulty in working to construe and manipulate the legal system in their favor.

[msongs]

7. airlines want to eliminate co-pilots - one pilot = stuck w/a nut so watch out nt

[gateley]

12. I was thinking about that while reading this -- there used to also be a flight engineer

in the cockpit.

Even though so much of commercial air travel is computerized, I think the public wouldn't stand for it if they only had one person in charge of the plane. I hope I'm right.

Even if the other isn't suffering a mental breakdown, there's always the chance of a heart attack, stroke, whatever -- there HAS to be a backup.

[pnwest]

8. news reports on CNN this morning said he is

undergoing a full medical evaluation, including psych eval, and depending on what's found out, the charges may not stick. He coulda had a stroke...he also coulda been stoked out of his mind on meth. They just don't know yet.

[Cleita]

10. Seems he was uttering a lot of religious jibberish.

I would be interested in knowing if he belonged to some kind of cult that broke him down mentally.

[mainer]

11. He was yelling about Jesus and about making a leap of faith

according to a report over on AOL.

This doesn't really sound like a stroke to me. And I've heard on a pilot's message board that insulin-dependent pilots aren't allowed to fly commercial jets.

This sounds more like a psychotic break, manifesting in religious paranoia.

[librechik]

13. He's being evaluated now at a psychiatric hospital

they could drop the charges if he seems impaired. Maybe a brain tumor? They'll find out.