Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson pleads guilty to trying to turn off plane’s engine during flight
A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to turn off a plane’s engine mid-flight ‘while high on magic mushrooms’ has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Joseph Emerson, 46, was off-duty and sitting in the jump seat in the cockpit of a Horizon Air plane to San Francisco in 2023 when he tried to shut off the engines’ fuel supply, police said.
His lawyer Noah Horst said the pilot made a deal because he wants to take responsibility for his actions and hopes to avoid further time behind bars.
Horst declined to discuss details of the agreements ahead of change-of-plea hearings his client faces Friday in state and federal court in Oregon.
Emerson was subdued by the flight crew and the plane was diverted to Portland, Oregon, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.
According to charging documents, Emerson told Port of Portland police following his arrest that he had been struggling with depression, that a friend had recently died and that he had taken psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before he attempted to cut the engines.
Joseph Emerson, 46, was off-duty and sitting in the jump seat in the cockpit of a Horizon Air plane to San Francisco in 2023 when he tried to shut off the engines’ fuel supply. He is pictured in 2023
Emerson was subdued by the flight crew and the plane was diverted to Portland , Oregon
FILE – Joseph David Emerson, back, appears in Multnomah County Circuit Court for an indictment hearing in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 7, 2023. (Dave Killen/The Oregonian via AP, Pool, File)
He also said he had not slept in more than 40 hours, according to the document.
Emerson was charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. A state indictment in Oregon separately charged him with 83 counts of endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft.
He previously pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but on Friday was expected to plead guilty to the federal charge and no-contest to the state charge, which carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea.
Emerson was released from custody in December 2023 pending trial, with requirements that he undergo mental health services, stay off drugs and alcohol, and keep away from aircraft. In the meantime, he has founded a nonprofit focused on pilot mental health.
The pilot and his wife appeared on Good Morning America, where he revealed that he was an alcoholic at the time of the flight.
‘I’m better for it which is kind of a weird thing to say but I am really better for all of us,’ he said, saying he’s had more time with his kids, and that the event saved his marriage.
The averted disaster renewed attention on cockpit safety and the mental fitness of those allowed in them.
