UPDATE, 11:19 a.m. A statement from American Airlines, posted by Staff Writer Terry Maxon on our Airline Biz Blog. 
 
 This morning Flight 2332 had left the gate at DFW bound for Chicago, when an incident occurred involving some of the cabin crew. The aircraft returned to the gate, where it was met by Department of Public Safety officers. Two flight attendants were taken to local hospitals for treatment. We continue to investigate the details and circumstances and will have no further comment at this time. We will ensure that the affected flight attendants receive proper care, and we commend our other crew members for their assistance in quickly getting the aircraft back to the gate so that customers could be re-accommodated. Our customers were not in danger at any time. The cabin crew was replaced. The flight departed for Chicago at 9:46 a.m., and is scheduled to land around noon. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers and we appreciate their patience and understanding. 
 
 
 
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 UPDATE, 11:04 a.m. Here's the Chicago Tribune's story. It doesn't add much. 
 
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 UPDATE, 10:55 a.m. Lydia Maese, spokeswoman for the FBI said: "AA is handling all the inquiries. We did respond, we assessed the situation and we determined there was no need for a federal investigation." 
 
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 UPDATE, 10:41 a.m. The flight took off for Chicago shortly before 10 a.m. -- about 80 minutes late. 
 
 Here's a flight-tracker site where you can watch the aircraft's progress (or, for that matter, the progress of any domestic flight.) Below is a screen-grab from this site. 
 
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 UPDATE, 10:34 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration, without offering any new details, confirms that something happened. "We were told there was an altercation," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro "They requested to be met by D/FW police and TSA." 
 
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 We're receiving numerous unconfirmed reports, via email and Twitter, that a flight attendant aboard an American Airlines flight at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport got on the intercom system and began ranting in a way that alarmed passengers and authorities. 
 
 According to passengers, the flight attendant was subdued by passengers, and the plane, Flight 2332, which was about to take off for Chicago, was returned to the gates. 
 
 The flight attendant "came on the PA system ranting about AA bankruptcy and then telling them the plane was going to crash," said the sister of one woman on the plane. 
 
 "She was addressing the captain, telling him not to take off, that it would not be her responsibility when the plane crashes and that it was going to crash. Then she was tackled by first-class passengers, who threw her against the wall." 
 
 Another passenger told as friend, according to an email from that friend, that "the flight attendant went crazy, screaming abut 9-11 and crashing. Six men held her down." 
 
 Here's a version of the story from Unfair Park, 
 
 A second flight attendant may have been injured in the scuffle. 
 
 We're working to get confirmation and details. ||||| An American Airlines flight attendant disrupted a flight Friday morning as it was about to take off from Dallas-Fort Worth en route to Chicago, saying over the aircraft intercom system that the plane was going to crash, alluding to 9/11 terrorist attacks and ranting about the airline's bankruptcy reorganization, passengers said.Passengers ended up restraining the female flight attendant in a forward seat of the cabin until the plane returned to the gate and airport police arrived.Two flight attendants were injured in the incident and were taken to a local hospital. No passengers were injured, and they were never in danger, an airline spokeswoman said.The flight attendant who caused the commotion shrieked as she was handcuffed by police and placed into a police car, passengers on the flight told the Tribune after they exited the plane at Chicago O'Hare "I will never get that sound of her screaming out of my head," said Bethany Christakos of Plano, Texas. "It took a good 10 minutes, it felt like, to get her off of the plane."Other passengers said the incident ended after about 15 minutes, but it made them nervous. "We were pretty frightened," said Elmhurst resident Greg Lozano. "I was glad we weren't in the air. That was the primary thing I was thinking."The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed there was an "altercation" involving American Airlines Flight 2332, which eventually landed at Chicago O'Hare at 11:46 a.m., more than an hour late.According to reports by passengers, the trouble began Friday morning as the plane taxied to the runway for takeoff. A flight attendant who had been giving preflight safety instructions began speaking incoherently over the intercom system, confusing and startling passengers.The attendant said the plane had a mechanical issue and was going to return to the airport gate. However, other flight attendants interrupted and said there were no mechanical issues and that the plane was preparing for takeoff.The upset flight attendant then said over the public-address system that it would not be her fault if the plane crashed. She began speaking in incomplete sentences, using the words "bankruptcy" and "American Airlines," passengers said. She also referred to the 9/11 terrorist attacks at one point, passengers said.Some passengers then began using mobile phones to call 911.Other flight attendants on the plane attempted to calm the woman, but she continued to be agitated. Three or four passengers then left their seats and went to the front of the plane to help restrain her as the plane returned to the gate, a move requested by the pilot, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.Brad LeClear of Fox Lake was among the passengers to help. He was returning to Chicago from a business trip. He and several of his Sam's Club colleagues helped restrain the flight attendant. "She was making erratic statements over the PA and mentioned that everybody was going to crash," LeClear said. "That's when it really got out of control."Steve Termunde, also returning from the Sam's Club business trip, said passengers thought at first that the flight attendant didn't realize she was speaking over the public-address system. But as she continued a rant, they realized something was wrong. "When she said 'crash' twice, we knew something was wrong," he said. "That's when everyone started to undo their seatbelts, and we were ready to take action ourselves."A pilot who was catching a ride on the plane in first class approached the woman, who was standing near the pilot's cockpit door, along with other flight attendants. "He got up and tried to subdue her, tried to take the mic away because she kept talking on the mic and getting everybody a little nervous and upset," Termunde said.That's when other passengers came to help. "It was a good wrestle to get her to her seat," he said. "There were about five people holding her down."Some passengers said the woman appeared to be having a mental breakdown. One passenger said the flight attendant mentioned that she suffered from a bipolar condition and that she had not taken her medication."She was in a manic-type state," LeClear said. "I tried to talk her down and calm her down a little bit. She said she was bipolar. We continued to hold her until authorities arrived and when they showed up we helped get the cuffs on."A flight attendant who appeared to be injured while attempting to restrain the woman was placed on a gurney and taken away in an ambulance. ||||| AUSTIN, Texas U.S. authorities filed criminal charges on Wednesday against a JetBlue Airways pilot who witnesses said yelled incoherently about religion and the 2001 hijack attacks and pounded on a locked cockpit door before passengers subdued him in a midair uproar. 
 
 Flight 191 was diverted to Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday, following what authorities described as erratic behavior by Capt. Clayton Frederick Osbon, who allegedly ran through the cabin before passengers tackled him in the galley. 
 
 A flight attendant suffered bruised ribs, officials said. 
 
 The Justice Department filed a complaint charging Osbon with interfering with the crew. It is unusual for a commercial airline pilot to be charged in this way, and a U.S. official said he could not recall a similar case in recent years. 
 
 Osbon, 49, remains in a guarded facility at a hospital in Amarillo, and U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana said he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. 
 
 The 12-year JetBlue veteran was suspended while the FBI and aviation authorities investigate the incident, the airline and the government said on Wednesday. 
 
 A JetBlue spokeswoman said the company was cooperating fully with authorities and would conduct its own investigation as well. 
 
 Dave Barger, chief executive of the New York carrier, said he knows and respects Osbon, who regulators said underwent a routine medical evaluation nearly four months ago and had a clean record. 
 
 The harrowing events raised questions about pilot medical qualifications and workplace stress in an industry under chronic financial pressure and more generally in an economy only slowly shaking the grip of severe recession. 
 
 TROUBLE IN THE COCKPIT 
 
 An affidavit by an FBI agent shows trouble for the flight started before the Airbus A320 took off from New York City's LaGuardia Airport enroute to Las Vegas with 141 passengers and crew. 
 
 Osbon was late arriving at the airport, and missed the routine pre-flight crew briefing, agent John Whitworth said in the affidavit. Whitworth said problems continued as the plane took off. 
 
 "Osbon talked about his church and needed to focus," Whitworth said in the affidavit. "Osbon began talking about religion, but his statements were not coherent." 
 
 The copilot grew nervous when Osbon told them that "things just don't matter" and began yelling over the plane's radio system, telling air traffic controllers to "be quiet," according to Whitworth's account in the affidavit. "The First Officer became really worried when Osbon said, ‘We need to take a leap of faith'," Whitworth said in the document. "Osbon started trying to correlate completely unrelated numbers and he talked about the sins in Las Vegas. At one point, Osbon told the (first officer), ‘We're not going to Vegas,' and began giving what was described as a sermon." 
 
 CHAOS IN THE CABIN 
 
 Passengers who were on the plane described a chaotic mid-flight scene in which a man in a JetBlue uniform, apparently locked out of the cockpit, began banging on the door and demanding to be let inside. Passengers subdued him. 
 
 "People behind me, a bunch of big guys, started going up there and trying to help, and we found out that the guy banging was actually the pilot, and he was trying to get into the cockpit because the other co-pilot had locked him out," passenger Grant Heppes told Reuters. 
 
 "Everybody seemed pretty nervous," he said. "Nobody was sure what was going on. Everybody seemed very concerned." 
 
 Osbon yelled jumbled comments about "Jesus, September 11th, Iraq, Iran and terrorists" while passengers converged on him, the affidavit said. 
 
 An off-duty pilot aboard the plane took Osbon's place at the controls as the plane made an emergency landing. 
 
 Barger said there had been no earlier signs of problems with the pilot. 
 
 "I've known the captain personally for a long period of time, and there's been no indication of this at all," Barger told NBC, adding that the pilot was a "consummate professional." 
 
 The incident was the second to involve erratic behavior by a JetBlue crew member since August 2010, when a flight attendant upset after an altercation with a passenger bolted from a plane by deploying and sliding down the inflatable emergency chute. 
 
 Lawyers for the flight attendant in that incident, Steven Slater, later told reporters he had acted in part out of frustration with the chaos of air travel and that he was under stress because his mother was suffering from lung cancer. 
 
 The incident also came just two weeks after a female flight attendant started ranting about a possible crash over the public address system of an American Airlines plane. She, too, was subdued by passengers and crew as the plane returned to the gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. 
 
 FITNESS FOR DUTY 
 
 The FAA said it was investigating the JetBlue incident. It is not yet known what may have caused the outbursts described in the affidavit, officials said. 
 
 As a captain, he would be required to undergo at least two medical exams within the past year to assess his capabilities to fly. 
 
 The Federal Aviation Administration said Osbon's last medical check was in December and there were no prior incidents, accidents or disciplinary actions on his record. 
 
 But the physicals required by FAA and conducted annually for most and twice a year in other cases are generally less rigorous than those required by big airlines when first hiring a pilot. 
 
 Doctors must rely on self disclosure by a pilot on questionnaires about any mental health issues. 
 
 JetBlue said it has a peer-assistance for pilots and added that crewmembers could take "safety time out" should an employee have any issues. 
 
 The FAA handles more than 450,000 applications annually for medical certifications, mainly for private flying, agency records show. It would not make a medical official available for an interview. 
 
 JetBlue said it was in compliance with FAA regulations on pilot health. 
 
 Although the incident aboard the JetBlue flight was a rarity, pilots say their jobs have become more stressful over the years due to carrier financial and other demands. 
 
 "Airline pilots are among the most scrutinized professionals there are, way more than doctors. ... We're constantly under the microscope," retired U.S. Airways pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, famous for landing his stricken jet in the Hudson River in 2009, said in a telephone interview. 
 
 JetBlue has one of the industry's more upbeat corporate cultures, which emphasizes premium customer service. Management has good labor relations with its non-union workers who staff mostly newer Airbus jets. 
 
 But JetBlue has twice made sensational headlines for lengthy tarmac delays, calling into question its operating decisions in the worst weather. 
 
 Joyce Hunter, a former account manager with a major airline who is now an associate professor at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, said pilots and flight attendants should have annual evaluations for stress. 
 
 "This is the issue from the vantage point of why we're seeing these meltdowns," said Hunter, who wrote a book titled "Anger in the Air." 
 
 (Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Susan Heavey, Jim Forsyth, John Crawley, Karen Jacobs and Jilian Mincer; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Todd Eastham)
– Details are still sketchy, but something seriously weird and unpleasant happened aboard an American Airlines flight set to take off from Dallas to Chicago today. Early accounts suggest that one of the flight attendants got on the PA system and began ranting about how the plane was going to crash and about the company's financial troubles, report the Chicago Tribune and Dallas Morning News. At that point, several passengers apparently subdued her. Two other flight attendants suffered injuries in the melee, and the plane returned to the gate. The airline has confirmed that an "incident occurred involving some of the cabin crew" and said it is still investigating, as is the FAA. The Dallas newspaper quotes an email from a passenger to a friend: "The flight attendant went crazy, screaming about 9-11 and crashing. Six men held her down."