Off-Duty Alaska Airlines Pilot Attempts to Disable Aircraft Engines While Under Influence of Psychedelic Mushrooms

A recently surfaced cockpit audio has revealed the harrowing moments when an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot attempted to disable an aircraft's engines during flight.

In October 2023, Joseph Emerson, who was reportedly under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms and suffering from sleep deprivation, attempted to crash an Alaska Airlines plane carrying 83 passengers and crew members on a Seattle to San Francisco route. Seated in the cockpit's jump seat, Emerson suddenly lunged for the emergency engine shut-off handles located in the ceiling panel and tried to pull them down.

The incident occurred on an Embraer E75 regional jet operated by Horizon Air, a regional subsidiary of Alaska Airlines. The recently released cockpit audio captures the terrifying moment when Emerson made his attempt to shut down the aircraft's engines.

In the recording, the on-duty pilot can be heard responding to Emerson's statement that he "wants to go home." This is followed by sounds of struggle and alarmed exclamations as the pilot demands, "Dude, what's going on?!"

The breathless pilot then urgently contacted air traffic controllers stating, "Horizon, we need to make an emergency landing," and explained, "We've got a jump seater just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland, now."

Emerson later admitted to law enforcement officials that he was experiencing the effects of "magic mushrooms" he had consumed two days prior to the flight.

Video footage has also emerged showing Emerson being escorted off the aircraft in handcuffs by Portland prosecutors after the plane made its emergency landing.

According to CBS News, Emerson was seated in the cockpit jump seat due to the flight being fully booked. The handles he attempted to pull were designed to cut off fuel supply in the event of a fire.

In a previous interview with CBS News, Emerson claimed he was in a "dream" or "dissociative state" and thought pulling the handles would "wake me up." He later acknowledged, "It didn't wake me up, right. I was in reality. I know that now...It's the most consequential three seconds of my life."

Following the incident, Emerson pleaded guilty to charges of interfering with a flight crew. He also pleaded no contest to charges of endangering an aircraft and 83 counts of endangering another person. For his guilty plea, he was sentenced to time served (having spent 46 days in jail) plus three years of supervised release. For the remaining charges, he received five years of probation and time served.