Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson pleads guilty to trying to turn off plane’s engine during flight

An old Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to deactivate the engine of an airplane “while the magic mushrooms” concluded a advocacy with the prosecutors.

Joseph Emerson, 46, was on leave and was seated in the jump seat in the cockpit of an Airplane Horizon for San Francisco in 2023 when he tried to close the fuel supply of the engines, police announced.

His lawyer Noah Horst said that the pilot had entered into an agreement because he wanted to assume responsibility for his actions and hopes to avoid more time behind bars.

Horst refused to discuss the details of the agreements before the Plephone change hearings which his client faced Friday before the State Court and Federal of Oregon.

Emerson was moderate by the flight crew and the plane was diverted to Portland, Oregon, where he landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

According to accusation documents, Emerson told the Port of Portland police following his arrest that he had trouble with depression, that a friend was recently deceased and that he had taken psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before trying to cut the engines.

He also said he hadn’t slept for more than 40 hours, according to the document.

Emerson was charged to the Federal Court for interfering with a driving team. An accusation of the state in Oregon accused him separately from 83 charges of endangering another person and a head of endangerment of an aircraft.

Joseph Emerson, 46, was on leave and was seated in the jump seat in the cockpit of an Airplane Horizon for San Francisco in 2023 when he tried to close the fuel supply of the engines. He was photographed in 2023

Emerson was moderate by the flight crew and the plane was diverted to Portland, Oregon

Joseph David Emerson, at the rear, appears in front of the County Circuit of the County of Multnomah for an accusation audience in Portland, Oregon, December 7, 2023

He previously pleaded not guilty to all the accusations, but Friday was to plead guilty to the federal accusation and the organization of the State, which involves the same legal effect as a plea of ​​guilt.

Emerson was released from the guard in December 2023 awaiting trial, with requirements that he undergoes mental health services, remains away from drugs and alcohol and to move away from planes. In the meantime, he has founded a non -profit organization 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 am better for that, which is a kind of strange thing to say, but I am really better for us,” he said, saying that he had more time with his children and that the event saved his marriage.

The avoided disaster has renewed attention to the safety of the cockpit and the mental form of those authorized there.

The father of two children had taken psychedelic mushrooms a few days earlier during a trip with friends to remember his best friend Scott, a driver who died years ago.

Although he does not feel, he accepted flight 2059 of Everett, Washington, in San Francisco.

During the flight, Emerson believed he had a bad dream of which he had to wake up.

In an interview with Good Morning America, he called it the “biggest error” and the “worst 30 seconds” of his life

Emerson described the moment when he has reached engine shutdown, believing that this “ wake him up ” of what he thought was a hallucination

“It’s a bit there that I threw my helmet, and I was completely convinced that it is not real and I do not go home,” said Emerson.

“And then, as the pilots did not react to my completely abnormal behavior in a way that I thought to be consistent with reality, it is then that I am not real. I need to wake up.

He said he still felt the effects of drugs when he climbed the flight as a pilot on leave and convinced himself that his environment was not real.

“There was a feeling of being trapped, like” am I trapped in this plane and now I will never go home? “He recalls.

Emerson described the moment when he reached engine shutdown, believing that it would “wake him up” from what he thought was a hallucination.

“There are two red handles in front of my face,” continued Emerson. “And thinking that I was going to wake up, thinking that it is my way of getting out of this non -real reality, I stretched my hand and I caught them, and I pulled the levers.”

The father of two children had taken psychedelic mushrooms a few days earlier during a trip with friends to remember his best friend Scott, a driver who died years ago

“What I thought was:” It will wake me up, “said Emerson.” I know what these levers do in a real plane and I have to wake up from that. You know, it’s 30 seconds in my life that I would like to be able to change, and I can’t.

He said he was brought back to reality when the crew arrested him.

“It was really the pilot’s physical touch on my hand,” he said. “The two pilots caught my hands where I sort of stopped and I had this moment, which I will just say that I consider this moment as a gift.

The pilot’s wife Sarah described her horror when she learned that her husband faced 83 murder attempts – one for each person on board.

These charges have been demoted.