Steven Slater: Flight Was "Perfect Storm"

Last August, the nation was intrigued by the story of a flight attendant who became fed up, told his passengers off, then made an unorthodox departure from his plane.

The fact that Steven Slater's version of those events was eventually challenged just made the story more intriguing.

To some, Slater is a folk hero; to others, he's just a crazy flight attendant who had a very public meltdown.

On an Aug. 9 JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to Kennedy Airport in New York, Slater claimed, he was struck on the head while a passenger was putting luggage in an overhead compartment. When the plane landed, he cursed at passengers over the intercom system.

PICTURES: Steven Slater
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Passenger Katie Dobler told CBS News, "He said, 'To the ***** who just told me to **** go ****. It's been a great 28 years, I'm out of here." '

Slater then deployed the emergency chute, grabbed a couple of beers and slid into the middle of a media frenzy.

At first, his actions struck a chord with disgruntled workers everywhere. Slater was cheered on the Internet, with messages on Facebook, such as "Way to go" and "You are my new hero."

But law enforcement officials weren't amused. He was charged with three felony counts, including criminal mischief and wreckless endangerment. A Port Authority investigation didn't find one passenger on the plane who corroborated Slater's story. In fact, many said he was to blame.

Passenger Lauren Woods said, "He was very rude to everyone throughout the entire flight. … I feel like we all have our moments where we're pushed to the limits, but there's a line that he crossed."

Rather than face trial, Slater pleaded guilty, was slapped with a $10,000 fine and ordered to undergo counseling and substance abuse treatment.

Slater said, "At the end of the day, I am a grown adult and must accept responsibility for my actions."

Slater and the airline have parted ways, but many are now left to wonder exactly what happened on JetBlue flight 1052.

So what did happen?

Slater appeared on "The Early Show" Wednesday with his story.

He explained, "My experience was that we did board the airplane in Pittsburgh that morning and it was during the boarding process, early in the boarding process, in fact that some passengers were struggling with carry-on bag as is not that uncommon on board the airplane. I went to intervene and assist in that situation and in the craziness that was going on, I managed to get whacked with either the suitcase or the bin coming down. I don't know, there was a lot of flurry of craziness going on there."

He continued, "And while I don't advocate my response to that, I did go on a little bit of a slow burn. I stepped away from that situation to deal with it. ... There had been a lot of frustrations, there were a lot of things that went wrong on that flight. I often describe it as the perfect storm of bad manners."

He admitted to "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez that accounts of his swearing over the intercom is not far from the truth.

"I did, indeed, call out the individual that I had words with or had words at me."

Why did he decide to leave via the emergency exit and take the beers on his way out?

Slater said, "You know what, at the end of the day, why I believe that I probably did that was I knew that if I went out that front door that I was probably coming right back and I think when I look back on it, maybe subconsciously, I needed to go in a way that I knew was final."

As for life after he became the poster boy for fed-up employees, Slater says he "hardly recognizes (his) life anymore."

"It's exciting, it's intriguing, but doesn't have a lot of resemblance to the life I had before."

Rodriguez remarked, "You've also been criticized greatly because of the way you handled it. The federal prosecutor went as far to say you have mental problems and you were drunk. How do you respond to that?"

He replied, "You know, it's really -- it hurts to hear something like that, although at the end of the day, you don't get put into mental health court for treatment unless there is some cause for that. …You know, I've been candid about issues in my life, my substance abuse and alcoholism. I'm recovering, which is number one priority in my life."

As for his story -- which no one on the flight corroborates -- Slater blames the way the story has been reported in the media for the inconsistencies in the way the story has been told.

"The event was far less spectacular than it was made out to be," he said. "It was not this huge knock-down drag-out brawl that happened in the aisle. It was something that was fairly innocuous at the time. There was never any malice. I don't believe that the passenger that inadvertently struck me with the bag did it out of any kind of ill will. It was an accident. It was a rushed flight. We were running late, it was a full flight, carry-on baggage to the max, again that perfect storm of incivility and craziness."

So, is Slater giving any apologies?

Apparently not at the moment.

He said, "I think we again all had a part in this. It was, again, a creation of a lot of different elements. It would be wonderful, if someday we have a chance to clear that air."