While a lot has been said about the frenzy that ensued during Jet Blue Flight 191, Kings Park resident Glenn Wolk, who was a passenger on that flight, said the pilot wasn't the only one who flipped.
Wolk, who owns his own security business, was one of the many passengers headed down to a security convention in Las Vegas when Captain Clayton Osbon, pilot of the plane became unhinged and had to be restrained after his bizzarre comments and ramblings caused alarm.
“I didn’t notice anything until the pilot began banging on the cockpit door,” said Wolk, who then noticed a female and male flight attendant trying to restrain the irate pilot..
While Wolk witnessed four or five men running to the front, taking the pilot to the ground and restraining him he also noticed the snap of cell phone cameras as many of the passengers jumped up to record the scene. Soon after, he saw many of his fellow passengers calling local news outlets.
“A guy on the flight told me he made $2,000 giving information to a news organization,” he said.
“I was upset with the way some people acted on the plane," he said. "When I got into JFK this woman who happened to be on the plane home, who was on the other plane, said the she and a few other people were filing a class action suit,” said Wolk, who turned her down.
“I was looking at her like, 'What? No thank you,'” said Wolk.
Wolk believes the airline handled the situation well and that the co-pilot is the true hero in the events that took place.
“Jet Blue was great about the whole thing,” said Wolk. “They had food for us, the Texans (where the plane made its emergency landing) were great. Lots of people asking if there was anything they can do for us,” said Wolk.
He didn’t believe that the event affected him, that is, until he went to board the plane home.
“I’m a pretty calm guy. I must have a million flying miles in my career and I thought I wasn’t affected, until I had a panic attack getting back on to the plane and I realized that yeah, it affected me.” But, the businessman said he feels he is a lucky guy.
“It was a happy ending, it could have gone so many different ways,” said Wolk. “This guy could have pushed the throttle forward. You don’t know. So pretty much. I came back and realized how lucky we really were.”
