Judge orders mental exam for Clayton Osbon

A judge in Amarillo, Texas, has ordered that JetBlue Airlines pilot Clayton Osbon undergo a psychiatric examination to determine if he's competent to stand trial on federal charges that he interfered with a plane's crew during a flight from Kennedy Airport to Las Vegas last week.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson signed the order Wednesday, requiring that Osbon be transported to a medical center for federal prisoners and undergo the exam "to determine his mental competency to stand trial and his sanity or lack thereof at the time of the commission of the alleged offense."

In a separate order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Clinton E. Averitte granted a defense motion to postpone a court appearance scheduled Thursday. The detention hearing was rescheduled for Monday in Amarillo, according to court records. JetBlue has suspended Osbon from flight duty.

The assistant U.S. attorney's office prosecuting Osbon filed the motion seeking the psychiatric examination. In court papers, prosecutors said they conferred with his attorney, Dean Roper, who agreed to the examination.

Osbon, 49, of Richmond Hill, near Savannah, Ga., went on a tirade March 27 while in charge of Flight 191. His co-pilot locked him out after he reportedly began acting strangely in the cockpit. Osbon then began ranting in the passenger cabin about Iran, Iraq, Sept. 11 and terrorists.

Passengers, several from Long Island, tackled Osbon and restrained him while the Airbus A-320 made an emergency landing in Amarillo. He was charged with interfering with a flight crew a day later. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.