A former pilot who tried to turn off a plane’s engines while riding off-duty on magic mushrooms has pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew.
Joseph Emerson, a former Alaska Airlines pilot, was sitting in the spare seat of the cockpit of Horizon Air flight 2059 from Everett to San Francisco when he tried to cut the engines in 2023.
The two pilots flying stopped him from doing so, and the plane was then diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with 84 people on board.
After his arrest, Emerson told police he was upset over a friend’s recent death, had taken psilocybin – commonly known as magic mushrooms – about two days earlier, and had not slept in over 40 hours.
The off-duty pilot, of Pleasant Hill, California, was charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew.
Separately, a state indictment in Oregon charged him with 83 counts of endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft.
He has now pleaded guilty to the federal count and no-contest – which carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea – to the state charges.
‘What happened was wrong’
Speaking to the court on Friday, Emerson said he had no intention of harming anyone, but accepted “I still made the decision to take psilocybin, and that led to my inability to determine that I was operating in reality for an extended period of time”.
“That doesn’t make this right,” he said. “What happened was wrong and should not have happened, and I bear the responsibility for that.”
According to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, one of the pilots also told investigators that Emerson said “I’m not okay” before he reached for the red fire suppression handles – which would have cut off fuel to the engines.
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Multnomah County deputy district attorney Eric Pickard said in a written statement on Friday that what “Joseph Emerson did was reckless, selfish, and criminal”.
“We should remember how close he came to ruining the lives of not just the 84 people aboard Flight 2059, but all of their family members and friends as well,” he added.
Typically, off-duty airline pilots sit in the jump seat of the flight deck behind the pilots to fly back to their home base if seats are available.
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As part of a plea agreement for the state charges, Emerson was sentenced to 50 days in jail – which he has already served – five years on probation, 664 hours of community service and $60,569 (£44,840) in restitution.
He still faces sentencing for the federal charge of interfering with a flight crew, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Emerson is set to appear in court for federal sentencing on 17 November.
