JetBlue Pilot Curses Passenger Then Ejects

"Fly your own friggin' crate"

August 10, 2010

On Monday a JetBlue pilot overheard a passenger complaining about the bumpy ride over a thunderstorm in Iowa. The irate pilot hurled obscenities through the plane's loudspeakers then grabbed two bottles of Jack Daniels and ejected at 10,000 feet of attitude.

Captain Tom Surly was talking on the two-way radio with a flight attendant in the cabin when a passenger waiting for the bathroom grumbled, "Jesus, it's a freakin' rollercoaster up here."

Pilot Surly turned on the plane's public address system and shouted, "To the sucker who thinks he can steer this rig better than I can . . . fly your own f*&#ing crate! Then stick it 10,000 feet up your cockpit!"

Surly grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels in each fist, put the plane on autopilot then hit his emergency eject button. As his parachute deployed below the plane, passengers on one side could see him deploy a middle finger in their direction. Then he disappeared from view.

The JetBlue copilot managed a bumpy landing in Des Moines. The pilot was fired and charged with reckless ejection. Now he flies for the Air Force.

—James Dunn
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