Former US pilot accused of trying to cut engines reaches plea agreement | US news

A former Alaska Airlines pilot accused of having tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while it takes place in the cockpit should conclude guilty and without dispute pleads before the federal and state courts on Friday as part of the agreements with the prosecutors.

Joseph Emerson concluded the advocacy agreements because he wants to assume responsibility for his actions and hopes to avoid more time behind bars, said his lawyer, Noah Horst.

Emerson was moderate by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a flight Horizon Air from Everett, Washington, in San Francisco on October 22, 2023, while he was riding in an additional seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

Emerson told the police that he was discouraged by the recent death of a friend, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier and had not slept for more than 40 hours. He said that he believed that he dreamed at the time and was trying to wake up by entering two red handles which would have activated the system of suppression of the fires of the plane and cut from fuel to his engines.

Emerson, Pleasant Hill, California, was charged to the Federal Court for interfere 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.

He previously pleaded not guilty to all accusations and, in December 2023, he was released from the guard pending the trial, with requirements that he undergoes mental health services, remains safe from drugs and alcohol and to move away from planes.

Friday, Emerson was to plead guilty to the federal chief and the non-counter of the accusations of the State, which contains the same legal effect as a plea of ​​guilt.

Under the federal agreement, prosecutors may recommend that Emerson is serving up to a year in prison, while his lawyers will ask him not to purge any additional time. The conditions for the state agreement include five years of probation, 664 hours of community service – eight hours for each person he has endangered – and $ 60,569 in return, almost everything at Alaska Air Group, Horst said.

Half of its community service can be carried out in a non -profit organization by Pilot Health, founded after its arrest. He must also undergo evaluations for drugs and alcohol and mental health treatment, refrain from using non -prescribed drugs and keep at least 25 feet (7.6 meters) of operable planes unless he has permission from his probation agent.

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