Feuding pilots cause five-hour plane delay after flight attendant and co-pilot refuse to fly with 'unstable' captain

  • United Express Flight 4453 operated by ExpressJet was delayed in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday after the crew got into an argument
  • An eyewitness reported that the flight attendant asked passengers to get off the plane because she felt their captain was 'unstable'
  • The feud reportedly erupted because the pilot was flying too fast on arrival to Lubbock, and his co-pilot told the control tower about it  
  • ExpressJet said there was no physical altercation, but police had to be called in to diffuse the situation 

By Ap and Snejana Farberov For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

A weekend flight on United Express was delayed for five hours in Lubbock, Texas, after the pilots got into a heated 'disagreement' and were 'unavailable' to fly the plane, according to the airline.

A spokesman for ExpressJet, the regional carrier that operated the plane, said Monday reports indicated police were called Saturday. Airport police did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Flight 4453 to Houston was 'delayed due to crew availability,' said the ExpressJet spokesman, Jarek Beem. 'There was a disagreement among crew members. There was no fight … there was no physical altercation thankfully.'

Flight fracas: United Express Flight 4453 operated by ExpressJet was delayed for five hours in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday after the pilot, co-pilot and flight attendant got into a heated argument that required the presence of police

Flight fracas: United Express Flight 4453 operated by ExpressJet was delayed for five hours in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday after the pilot, co-pilot and flight attendant got into a heated argument that required the presence of police

Major delay: Flight 4453 was scheduled to depart at 1.41pm, but it did not take off until 6.38pm with 20 passengers on board

Major delay: Flight 4453 was scheduled to depart at 1.41pm, but it did not take off until 6.38pm with 20 passengers on board

Beem said he didn’t have more details about the nature of the dispute, and he declined to identify the pilots. The one-hour flight departed Saturday evening after a new crew was flown in from Houston, he said.

The ExpressJet spokesman said he was not sure whether the first crew faced disciplinary action, adding the airline was still investigating the incident, which was first reported by travel blogger Gary Leff writing for View From The Wing. 

A blog reader who described himself as a passenger aboard the delayed flight later sent Leff an email offering some additional details on the pilots' feud.

According to the purported eyewitness, the argument erupted because the pilot came in 10 knots faster than he should have on arrival into Lubbock, and his co-pilot contacted the control tower to tell them about it.  

'Co-pilot and pilot [disembarked], we all boarded and were seated,' the traveler recounted. 'The fight attendant proceeded with her preparation, she then announced that due to a disagreement between pilot and copilot she felt it was unsafe to fly with them, she felt our captain was unstable as did our copilot and for our protection we needed to disembark.'

The commenter went on to say that as he was heading out of the plane, the captain came running down the jetway yelling, 'who told us to get off.'

As the passengers waited by the ticket agent stand, the eyewitness wrote that he could still hear the pilot yelling at the flight attendant inside the plane.

Sordid details: An eyewitness revealed to a travel blog writer that the flight attendant asked passengers to disembarked at Lubbock Airport saying that she felt the captain was 'unstable'  

Sordid details: An eyewitness revealed to a travel blog writer that the flight attendant asked passengers to disembarked at Lubbock Airport saying that she felt the captain was 'unstable'  

'Flight attendant and co-pilot were afraid captain would do something that would put us in danger and they took a stand,' the blog reader summed up. 'We all thanked our flight attendant and the co-pilot for looking out for us.' 

Flight 4453 was scheduled to depart at 1.41pm, but it did not take off until 6.38pm with 20 passengers on board.  

The same pilots were supposed to fly from Houston to Lubbock’s Preston Smith International Airport, then make a return trip to Houston after a half-hour stop. 

But the first flight ran nearly an hour late, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. Beem said there was a mechanical issue with the Embraer twin-engine jet before it left Houston.

Regional carriers like ExpressJet employ their own pilots to operate flights under contract to the big airlines. Atlanta-based ExpressJet operates about 1,500 daily flights as United Express, American Eagle and Delta Connection.

A United Airlines spokeswoman said the carrier joined ExpressJet in apologizing to inconvenienced passengers but referred all questions to ExpressJet

 

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