Mid-Air Freakouts: Is It Safe To Fly? [OPINION/POLL/VIDEO]

Remember about 18 months ago when JetBlue flight attendant Stephen Slater flipped out on a plane and quit his job by grabbing some beer and deploying the emergency exit slide? That seems mild compared to what happened on a JetBlue flight yesterday. You have to wonder...are we putting our lives in the hands of unstable people?

A pilot on a plane bound for Las Vegas from Kennedy Airport had to be subdued by passengers after acting erratically and being removed from the cockpit by the co-pilot. (Video below.)

According to various news outlets, the pilot, identified as Clayton Osbon, then went up the aisle of the plane screaming about Al-Qaeda and a bomb on the plane and how the plane was going down and trying to open the cabin door.

Uh, do they not do background checks on these people? Mental health screenings? SOMETHING??

How does something like this happen? More importantly, how tragically does it need to end before there's a change?

Clearly it's a high-stress industry, but when you put literally hundreds of lives a day into one person's hands, maybe a monthly mental evaluation is not too excessive.

Luckily no one was injured in this situation, though the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Texas, and I'm sure plenty of passengers onboard will have some emotional wounds.

And even just today, a New Jersey woman was arrested for a mid-air freakout on a US Airways flight, though that was apparently fueled by alcohol.

Suddenly these skies don't seem so friendly...