Doctor: Lack of sleep prompted pilot's breakdown

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BETSY BLANEY

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - A psychologist testified that a JetBlue Airways pilot who screamed about religion and terrorists during a flight had "a brief psychotic disorder" due to lack of sleep, according to a transcript of the trial obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

A judge found Clayton Osbon not guilty by reason of insanity during a brief and unpublicized trial earlier this month in Texas. Osbon had been charged with interference with a flight crew for his behavior on a March 27 flight from New York to Las Vegas.

Passengers said they wrestled the pilot to the floor after he ran through the plane's cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida. The flight was diverted and safely landed in Texas.

According to the court transcripts, psychologist Robert E.H. Johnson testified that Osbon's disorder lasted about a week after the incident. Osborn, who had been taken to a mental health facility in Amarillo after the flight, could not appreciate the nature and quality of his actions and he didn't appreciate their wrongfulness, Johnson testified.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120710/D9VUC1U80.html

[DWinNJ]

1. Do we know why?

Do we know why he was deprived of enough sleep?
Not knowing, but from other stories that have come out, I suspect that eventually we will learn that scheduling, work rules and insufficient pay are major factors.

[justice1]

5. Speaking from experience, many of the airlines are run that way.

[tawadi]

2. Um. OK.

Many of us forgo sleep. But we don't act like that!

[canuckledragger]

3. I'm a so-so insomniac myself

Light sleeper, tend to wake up up lots during the night at times. (though sleeping much better during this last year, a change of home seemed to help, was a little more stressed at the last address)

As you lose that sleep you start to get irritable, etc. & if stressed it just seems to compound the problem.

After a while it starts to get harder to screen your emotions, random brain chatter seems to get louder & harder to control

At one point I remember at almost 3 straight days of little to no sleep if i stared at something & turned my eyes away I would see reddish 'tracers' following my view..

at times you feel somewhat full of energy, others you feel wiped right out

I never got to this point but at extremes you start to hallucinate, & psychotic breaks are possible as with what happened with this guy.

chronic sleep loss is no small thing, & I feel for the guy.

[tawadi]

4. They should screen people better

Maybe give them basic training or something. He could've killed everyone on that plane.

[canuckledragger]

6. my suspicions tell me that our first poster DWinNJ, probably has it right.

"I suspect that eventually we will learn that scheduling, work rules and insufficient pay are major factors."

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. You nailed it.

I've been an insomniac for 10+ years, and you described it correctly. People don't understand what hell it is, and I feel for this guy as well. He may have had issues to begin with, but insomnia amplifies everything to a deafening blur.

[LuckyLib]

8. Exactly. And anyone who has spent weeks of sleep deprivation with a new

baby completely gets how they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture. It fries your brain and affects every aspect of your functioning.

[trof]

9. Lack of sleep was common when I was flying.

Back of the clock schedules, multitude of time zones partially responsible.
The clock says it's time to sleep in Paris or Tokyo or Mumbai, but your body doesn't agree.
I've read or watched TV in a hotel room all night long before finally dozing off for a couple of hours prior to wake-up call.

A hot shower and plenty of coffee and cigarettes would get me alert and cranked up enough for pre-flight and take-off.
Then I could kick back and doze a little during the flight.
There were three of us in the cockpit then, and we'd take turns.