United Airlines Pilot Removed From Austin-To-San Francisco Flight After Acting Erratically [Video]

AUSTIN, TX — A United Airlines pilot was removed from a flight departing Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Saturday, but the reason remained unclear.

CBS Austin reported the incident delayed the flight headed to San Francisco by two hours, ultimately departing at 7 p.m. A United Airlines prepared statement yielded no further insights into the incident, instead cryptically referring to its high corporate standards not having been met in the form of the removed pilot.

"We hold our employees to the highest standards and have replaced this pilot with a new one to operate the flight, which is scheduled to depart shortly," the statement read. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

Several passengers took to Twitter to discuss the incident and one passenger taking video of the pilot uploaded the video snippet to YouTube. According to the Twitter reports, the female pilot unleashed what passengers described as a "rant" about her divorce and the presidential election while crying.

What's more, the pilot wasn't dressed in the standard pilot's uniform, seen wearing regular clothes and a ball cap as she commandeered the intercom system to talk incoherently to passengers, as seen in a subsequent video uploaded to YouTube by a passenger. Some passengers noted that pilot took to the intercom on the plane to ask passengers to take a vote whether she should fly the plane dressed in her uniform or in street clothes.

Several passengers took to Twitter to describe what was unfolding before them in a real-time play-by-play made possible in the age of social media.

One passenger, Randy Reiss of San Francisco, had been tweeting during the drama prolifically enough that he got the attention of some media outlets that reached our to him for comment. But after a while, he stopped his tweet stream once a new pilot was found and his flight was set to depart. "RIP, my Twitter mentions," he wrote as the flight was finally set to launch after the pilot was replaced.

Reiss than issued a "statement for media," comparing himself to singer Taylor Swift while writing he'd like to avoid being part of the narrative. "Being a pilot is a tough and stressful job," Reiss wrote in his "statement" for media. "This particular pilot did not see emotionally equipped to do that job today. I hope that she gets the help she probably needs."

"So, y'all. I'm shaking right now," Reiss previously wrote. "I just left my United flight 455 'cos the captain demonstrated that she was not mentally in a safe space."

A subsequent YouTube video of the incident yields more insight into what occurred on the plane. The video showed part of the pilot's comments to passengers, including: "Don't worry, I'm going to let my co-pilot fly it. He's a man," and "If you don't feel safe, get off the airplane. But otherwise we can go," she said over the intercom system as heard on the uploaded video.

Alarmed by the comment, one man was seen getting up from his seat, requesting to be allowed to exit the aircraft. The pilot is then seen inquiring if she offended anyone with her comments. Reports indicated that some 20 people left the plane as a result.

But the original video was taken down from YouTube after initially being uploaded, for reasons that remain unclear. Its original snippets were salvaged by another YouTube user producing a packaged retrospective of the incident.

The airline did not identify the pilot or indicate what, if any, punitive measures might be taken against her. But judging from passengers' tweets on the matter, the overarching sentiments are those expressing concern for the pilot rather than anger at her actions that caused the two-hour delay.

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