Off-duty pilot who tried to cut plane’s engines midair ‘hadn’t slept in over 40 hours’
Pilot’s stunning confession after trying to disable plane engines mid-flight
- Joseph Emerson, a former Alaska Airlines pilot, is set to be sentenced Monday after attempting to disable a passenger plane's engines while off-duty in the cockpit in October 2023.
- Emerson pleaded guilty or no-contest to federal and state charges, including interfering with a flight crew and 83 counts of endangering another person, one for each person who was onboard the aircraft.
- The incident occurred on a Horizon Air flight from Everett to San Francisco, which was safely diverted to Portland after crew members subdued Emerson, who told police he was despondent over a friend’s recent death and hadn’t slept in 40 hours.
- He said he had taken psychedelic mushrooms days earlier, and believed he was dreaming, attempting to wake himself up by activating the fire suppression system.
- Federal prosecutors were seeking a one-year prison sentence, while Emerson's legal team advocated for probation, following a state court sentence of 50 days jail (time served), five years probation, community service, and restitution.