<<Print>>

A PILOT was wrestled to the floor by passengers yesterday � after running around a packed jet shouting: "We're all going down � say your prayers." Captain Clayton Osborn bellowed about "bombs" and "al-Qaeda" before being restrained. The 135-passenger Airbus A320 plane was forced into an emergency landing. Captain Osborn had been locked out of the cockpit by a co-pilot concerned about his erratic behaviour when he left to use the bathroom. After his outburst, a flight attendant appealed for help. Passengers leapt out of their seats and grabbed the captain before pinning him to the floor for 15 minutes. Ex-prison officer David Gonzalez said: "I told him 'I'm gonna show you what Iran is like' and grabbed him. I choked him with my forearm. I let go and tackled him to the floor. We were afraid he'd wake up. He was a very large man."