A JetBlue Airways Corp. flight was diverted Tuesday after the captain was locked out of the cockpit for "erratic behavior," then ran up and down the aisle and banged on the cockpit door before being subdued by passengers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and accounts from passengers.

Jack Nicas on Lunch Break has the latest on the JetBlue flight diverted Tuesday after the captain was locked out of the cockpit for "erratic behavior," then ran up and down the aisle and banged on the cockpit door before being subdued by passengers.

JetBlue Flight 191 from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Vegas landed just after 10 a.m. in Amarillo, Texas, where passengers got off the plane and continued the journey on another aircraft.

A JetBlue spokeswoman attributed the incident, which began more than three hours into the flight, to "a medical situation involving the captain." An off-duty JetBlue pilot who was on board took the captain's spot in the cockpit before the plane landed in Amarillo, where the captain was taken to a medical facility, the spokeswoman said.

The FAA said in a statement that the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit after becoming concerned with his behavior. A person familiar with the matter said the captain was attempting to flip switches in the cockpit that shouldn't have been flipped.

A JetBlue flight en route to Las Vegas diverted to Amarillo, Texas, after the captain was locked out of the cockpit for "erratic behavior." A former news anchor happened to be on the flight and describes what she saw. Also, a passenger captured cell phone video after the captain was subdued. Video: Fox News and Gavriel G. Photo: AP.

Late Tuesday, JetBlue identified the captain as Clayton Osbon, a 12-year company employee. Attempts to reach Mr. Osbon and his family for comment were unsuccessful. It wasn't clear whether he had a lawyer.

Mr. Osbon had described himself on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and in local news articles before the incident as a "JetBlue flight standards captain." Typically, the flight standards group at an airline develops standardized cockpit procedures and works to ensure those safety standards are followed by crews. The extent of Mr. Osbon's role in JetBlue's flight-standards group wasn't immediately clear.

The pilot is taken off JetBlue flight 191 after the plane landed in Amarillo, Texas. Steve Miller/The Reporter

Anthony Antolino, a 40-year-old security-firm executive from Rye, N.Y., who was one of the 135 passengers on Flight 191, said in a phone interview he watched the captain first emerge from the cockpit acting "very agitated"—talking frenetically, gesturing wildly and drinking a lot of water. "He was having a crisis of sorts," Mr. Antolino said.

After the captain returned to the cockpit, the co-pilot quickly persuaded him to leave again, Mr. Antolino said, allowing the off-duty pilot to slip into the cockpit and lock the door. "This could have had a tragic ending if that co-pilot was not able to persuade him out of the cockpit," Mr. Antolino said. "This unfolded so rapidly. A complete crisis was averted."

Locked out of the cockpit, he became enraged, said Mr. Antolino and another passenger, Grant Heppes, a 22-year-old marketing director from New York who was sitting near the rear of the cabin. Mr. Heppes said he watched the captain run up and down the aisle before hearing banging on the cockpit door, "and the co-pilot came over the loudspeaker saying, 'Do not let him in. Restrain him.' "

Mr. Antolino said he and three other male passengers then restrained the captain, whom he described as "a big, strong guy." who "put up a good struggle." During the tussle, the captain shouted that Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan "are going to take us down," Mr. Antolino said. "He had a delusion that something was going to happen. And then he suggested everybody say the Lord's Prayer. Then that was it; we just tackled him."

Mr. Antolino said that after he and the others tied the captain's legs together with seat-belt extenders and sat on him, the captain became quiet for the rest of the flight, which was about 20 minutes.

Both government officials and eyewitnesses praised the cooperation between the co-pilot and flight attendants to persuade the captain to leave the cockpit and then immediately to seek help from passengers to get him under control. In many ways, it followed the training that flight crews receive in how to subdue unruly or dangerous passengers.

Paul Babakitis, a retired New York City police sergeant who helped restrain the captain, told Fox News Tuesday that he and the attendants worked to calm the rest of the passengers during the last phase of the flight. "We worked like a team," he said, once it became clear that the captain "was just not coherent" and could become dangerous at any instant.

Just before the wheels touched down, the captain started yelling about an "emergency landing" and again tried but failed to break out of the restraints and get up, according to Mr. Babakitis.

The FAA said local law-enforcement officials in Amarillo took the captain away in an ambulance without incident, and he was transported to a hospital for evaluation. A JetBlue spokeswoman said the captain "is not in custody to our knowledge."

Amarillo police referred questions to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI officials are investigating the incident, a spokeswoman said.

The FAA requires all airline pilots to have a detailed medical checkup at least once a year, and twice annually for those over 40. While FAA-approved doctors are supposed to take psychological issues into consideration as part of those regular examinations, many pilots say such assessments often are cursory. Pilots also are subjected to random drug testing.

Many pilots tend to be reluctant to discuss psychological issues, often for fear of raising personal questions or jeopardizing their licenses. And medical examiners are often unwilling to delve into psychological matters because of limited time or expertise.

Officials remove baggage from JetBlue flight 191 and begin searching for explosives at Amarillo Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas, Tuesday. Amarillo Globe News / Associated Press

At most airlines, there are procedures to offer confidential assistance to pilots suspected of wrestling with problems such as drug or alcohol abuse, depression or other mental-health issues. Such programs typically are run by pilot volunteers or pilot-union officials, and are set up to help first-time or second-time offenders receive informal counseling and, if necessary, professional help.

But in most programs, help is cut off and management is notified if the pilot fails to cooperate or follow through with treatment.

Tuesday's incident follows one earlier this month in which authorities in Texas removed an American Airlines flight attendant from a plane about to take off for Chicago after she told passengers that the flight was going to crash.
