An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut down the engines during a flight on Sunday told investigators that at the time he believed he was having a nervous breakdown and had consumed psychedelic mushrooms, court documents say.
In an interview with police after his arrest, the pilot, Joseph D. Emerson, 44, said he had not slept in 40 hours and had been depressed for about six months, according to a federal criminal complaint.
The officer and Mr. Emerson “discussed using psychedelic mushrooms, and Emerson said it was the first time he had taken mushrooms,” the criminal complaint states.
The complaint did not provide further details about when Mr. Emerson consumed the mushrooms, in what quantities, and how he consumed them.
“I wasn’t feeling well,” Mr. Emerson told police, according to the criminal complaint. “It seemed like the pilots weren’t paying attention to what was going on.”
He also told police, according to the complaint, “I pulled both emergency stop handles because I thought I was dreaming and just wanted to wake up.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said Tuesday that Mr. Emerson had been charged in federal court with one count of obstruction of flight crew members and flight attendants.
Mr. Emerson was also charged in Multnomah County District Court in Portland, Oregon, with 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, court records show. He is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges Tuesday afternoon.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Emerson had an attorney.
Mr. Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., has been an airline pilot for more than two decades. Throughout his career, he has completed required Federal Aviation Administration medical certifications and has never had his certifications denied, suspended or revoked, Alaska Airlines said. Multnomah County court records indicate he has no criminal record.
On Sunday, Mr. Emerson was sitting in a jump seat in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines plane, an Embraer 175, authorities said. The flight, operated by Horizon Air, a regional affiliate, departed Everett, Washington, bound for San Francisco at approximately 5:23 p.m., with four crew members and 80 passengers on board. Commercial pilots say it’s common for them to sit in the jump seat in the cockpit while commuting to and from work.
At first, Mr. Emerson chatted casually with the two pilots in the cockpit, discussing different types of aircraft, the complaint says.
But when the plane was about halfway between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, one of the pilots saw Mr. Emerson throw his headset across the cockpit and announce, “I’m not feeling well,” the complaint says. The pilot then saw Mr. Emerson trying to grab two red handles that cut off fuel to the engines, the complaint says.
After a brief physical struggle with the pilots, Mr. Emerson exited the cockpit. Alaska Airlines said in a statement Monday that “our crew’s quick response to reset the handles restored fuel flow and prevented fuel starvation” as “some residual fuel” remained in the line.
Had Mr. Emerson successfully pulled the engine shutdown handles all the way down, “he would have shut off the hydraulics and fuel to the engines, turning the aircraft into a glider within seconds,” the complaint states.
As Mr. Emerson walked to the back of the plane after exiting the cockpit, he told a flight attendant, “You have to handcuff me now or it’s going to get bad,” the complaint states. After being pinned in the back of the plane, Mr. Emerson tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit door but was stopped by a flight attendant, federal prosecutors said.
Another flight attendant overheard Mr. Emerson “making statements such as ‘I screwed up’ and ‘He tried to kill everyone,'” the complaint says.
Following FAA procedures and air traffic controller instructions, the crew diverted the aircraft to Portland International Airport, where it landed safely at approximately 6:30 p.m
After Mr. Emerson was escorted off the plane, a passenger, Aubrey Gavello, told ABC News: “The flight attendant got back on speaker and said simply, ‘He was having a nervous breakdown.’ We had to get him off the plane immediately.’”
Psychedelics are enjoying increasing medical and legal acceptance, driven by a growing body of research that suggests they could be used to treat mental disorders. On January 1, Oregon became the first state to legalize adult use of mushroom-derived psilocybin.
Colorado voters approved a measure last year to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms and put the state on the path to a legal therapeutic market. In other states, including Texas, lawmakers have approved studies of psilocybin to treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The FDA has granted the drug “breakthrough therapy” designation, which allows for expedited review of substances that have shown promise.
Mr. Emerson joined Horizon Airlines as a first officer in August 2001, Alaska Airlines said. In June 2012, he joined Virgin America as a pilot. When Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin in 2016, Mr. Emerson rejoined the company as Alaska Airlines’ first officer. He became captain in 2019, the company said.