A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut down the engines of a packed 2023 flight after taking psychedelic mushrooms forced crews into tense moments captured on dramatic cockpit audio.
Joseph Emerson, a pilot at the time, was off-duty on the Oct. 22, 2023, Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco when the flight crew subdued him.
He was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit aboard Flight 2059, which was carrying 84 people, when audio obtained by KGW Portland captured the moment he reached for the engine controls.
“I’m not OK,” Emerson could be heard saying repeatedly.
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One of the crew members, who sounded confused, asked Emerson, “What’s wrong? You want to be home?”
What sounds like a struggle can then be heard in the cockpit. One of the pilots then alerted air traffic controllers to the emergency.
“We need to make an emergency landing,” the pilot said. “We got a jump seater who just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland now.”
The pilot was referring to Emerson, and a short time later, the pilot reached back out to air traffic controllers with an update.
“We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit, and he doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issues in the back right now,” the pilot said. “I think he’s subdued. Other than that, yeah, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and park.”
As the crew continued its descent into Portland, the air traffic controller asked what the threat level was.
The pilot told the controller that the threat was in the back of the plane, adding that the threat level was reduced. He said he planned to check in with the flight attendant to make sure everything was still “running smoothly.”
The controller then asked how high the threat level had reached during the incident.
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“It escalated to a four,” the pilot said, adding that “he’s out of the cockpit now.”
The pilot added that Emerson was handcuffed in a jump seat toward the back of the plane, giving a heads-up for when law enforcement arrived onboard.
“Right now, he’s staying calm,” the pilot said.
The plane was eventually diverted to Portland, where it landed safely.
At the time, Emerson, a California resident, told authorities he was grieving a friend’s death and had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier. He also said he had gone more than 40 hours without sleep.
Believing he was dreaming, he said he pulled the two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
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Emerson was federally charged with interfering with a flight crew. In Oregon, he was charged with 83 counts of endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft.
In September, he pleaded guilty to charges against him as part of a deal with state and federal prosecutors. Federal prosecutors originally asked a judge to impose a one-year prison sentence.
“Pilots are not perfect. They are human,” the judge said. “They are people, and all people need help sometimes.”
Before hearing his sentence, Emerson spoke, saying he regretted his actions.
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“I’m not a victim. I am here as a direct result of my actions,” he told the court. “I can tell you that this very tragic event has forced me to grow as an individual.”
Emerson received a 50-day jail sentence with credit for time served and five years of probation. He was also sentenced to five years of probation, 664 hours of community service – eight hours for each person he endangered – and ordered to pay more than $60,000 in restitution, nearly all of it to Alaska Air Group.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Sophia Compton, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
