OR - Alaska Airlines flight diverted after off-duty pilot tries "to shut the engines down" in cockpit, audio reveals

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www.seattletimes.com

Ex-Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut plane’s engines is released from jail; must avoid aircraft

An Oregon judge made the decision as Joseph Emerson pleaded not guilty to reduced charges of reckless endangerment; he previously faced attempted murder charges.
www.seattletimes.com www.seattletimes.com

12/7/23

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Ryan made the decision as Joseph Emerson pleaded not guilty to reduced charges of reckless endangerment; he previously faced attempted murder charges.

Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., has also pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew. The judge in that case also agreed that he could be released pending trial.

Emerson was released from jail around 5 p.m. He and his wife, Sarah Stretch, shared a tearful embrace as he walked out. He declined to comment. Noah Horst, his lawyer, said the couple planned to drive home to California.

The release conditions include that Emerson undergo mental health services, stay away from drugs and alcohol, and not come within 30 feet of an operable aircraft. His bail was set at $50,000 and he had to post 10% of that, or $5,000, to be released, Horst said.
 
Really? said:
Some streamers I watch were talking how outrageous it is for the pilot to say mushrooms ingested 48 hrs prior had anything to do with his actions. I trust them. :)
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The only thing I would say to that is that psychedelics can trigger a psychotic episode in someone on the verge. They don’t cause mental illness per se but can trigger something that was emerging.
 
vls12345 said:
abcnews.go.com

Former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut down engines in-flight shares his story

Joe Emerson, the pilot who attempted to shut down the engines of an in-flight Alaska Airlines plane, shares his story with ABC News.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com
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From the quoted link:

Joe Emerson’s future​

Emerson remains in legal limbo. Though he's no longer facing attempted murder charges, he is still facing more than 80 state and federal charges, including 83 counts of reckless endangerment after prosecutors reduced the charges in December. It's possible prosecutors could offer a plea deal or decide to go to trial later this fall.

“At the end of the day, I accept responsibility for the choices that I made. They're my choices," Emerson told ABC News. "What I hope through the judicial processes is that the entirety of not just 30 seconds of the event, but the entirety of my experience is accounted for as society judges me on what happened. And I will accept what the debt that society says I owe."

[..]

The New York Times Presents: Lie To Fly,” which airs at 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23 on FX, and streams the following day on Hulu.
 
It's nice that his wife and family are forgiving and accepting of him.
It'd be a struggle for me, for a while anyway.

If he'd managed to shut down those engines, all of the passengers, crew, and himself -- would most likely be dead.
So thankful that didn't happen.
Omo.
 
I don't see that he ever condemns the behaviour of ingesting illegal and hallucinogenic substances. Even in a group setting when mourning the death of a fellow pilot, he seems to think it gave him some insight, rather than was an uncontrolled drug taken recreationally that not only ended up with him hallucinating while on the flight, but that he was also in no shape to be working as a pilot and did not do the appropriate thing of calling in sick.

It seems to me he still has a profound lack of insight.
 
Herat said:
I don't see that he ever condemns the behaviour of ingesting illegal and hallucinogenic substances. Even in a group setting when mourning the death of a fellow pilot, he seems to think it gave him some insight, rather than was an uncontrolled drug taken recreationally that not only ended up with him hallucinating while on the flight, but that he was also in no shape to be working as a pilot and did not do the appropriate thing of calling in sick.

It seems to me he still has a profound lack of insight.
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Very true -- except calling in sick did not apply as he was not working as a pilot on this date but returning home from a personal trip. The fact that he was seated in the cockpit was likely due to either typical courtesy by employer or capacity. Also, I suspect his criminal attorney was present at the interview i.e., limiting his accountability. JMO
 
Herat said:
I don't see that he ever condemns the behaviour of ingesting illegal and hallucinogenic substances. Even in a group setting when mourning the death of a fellow pilot, he seems to think it gave him some insight, rather than was an uncontrolled drug taken recreationally that not only ended up with him hallucinating while on the flight, but that he was also in no shape to be working as a pilot and did not do the appropriate thing of calling in sick.

It seems to me he still has a profound lack of insight.
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I agree.

Stories say he had a long history of depression, but I've never seen any indication of whether he was being treated for it.

I don't think a person under treatment for depression would be encouraged to take an uncontrolled substance. And then he apparently went without sleep for 40 hours, and never checked in with anyone for any support or advice.

Surely, anyone whose advice he respected would have told him to try to rest/sleep on the flight, not go up to the cockpit to chitchat. Going without sleep for 48 hours will routinely cause hallucinations and psychosis, even in people who are mentally healthy and hadn't consumed hallucigens. Severe Sleep Deprivation Causes Hallucinations and a Gradual Progression Toward Psychosis With Increasing Time Awake

IMO he's trying to minimize it by saying his 'choice' was just during those 30 seconds, when, he claims, he was out of his mind.

I think he needs to acknowledge his choices included trying to self-treat his mental health problems and secrecy about what he was actually experiencing.

We don't know how long he'd been making those choices.
Maybe he'd been doing that all along and, fortunately for his passengers, he'd managed to get away with it to that point.

Most people who commit a serious crime have managed to not commit the crime for many years. It doesn't mean we say, for example, well you spent 45 years without assaulting anyone, so this time we'll let it go.

JMO
 
Cedars said:
The Daily Mail has it wrong (oh the shock). He wasn't a pilot of the plane.
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But...
Surprise, Surprise...

He was flying to another destination in order to fly another plane as a PILOT.

IIRC
as a lot of time has passed.

JMO
 
Instead of the derision and contempt others appear to have for this guy, I admire his need to take accountability for his actions. Too much of the world could benefit from that mindset instead of blaming absolutely everything for their bad behavior.
 
deadfoot13 said:
Instead of the derision and contempt others appear to have for this guy, I admire his need to take accountability for his actions. Too much of the world could benefit from that mindset instead of blaming absolutely everything for their bad behavior.
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I'm holding him to the very high standards (and therefore very high personal status and pay) expected from a commercial airline pilot.

Yes, many people accept no responsibility for their actions, and therefore they will be quite appropriately blocked from getting jobs where they might have responsibilities. That is also why members of the public are blocked from, for example, riding in the cockpit of a commercial plane during a flight.

JMO
 
Herat said:
I don't see that he ever condemns the behaviour of ingesting illegal and hallucinogenic substances. Even in a group setting when mourning the death of a fellow pilot, he seems to think it gave him some insight, rather than was an uncontrolled drug taken recreationally that not only ended up with him hallucinating while on the flight, but that he was also in no shape to be working as a pilot and did not do the appropriate thing of calling in sick.

It seems to me he still has a profound lack of insight.
Click to expand...
I think it is legal in his state, and others.
 
Cedars said:
I agree.

Stories say he had a long history of depression, but I've never seen any indication of whether he was being treated for it.

I don't think a person under treatment for depression would be encouraged to take an uncontrolled substance. And then he apparently went without sleep for 40 hours, and never checked in with anyone for any support or advice.

Surely, anyone whose advice he respected would have told him to try to rest/sleep on the flight, not go up to the cockpit to chitchat. Going without sleep for 48 hours will routinely cause hallucinations and psychosis, even in people who are mentally healthy and hadn't consumed hallucigens. Severe Sleep Deprivation Causes Hallucinations and a Gradual Progression Toward Psychosis With Increasing Time Awake

IMO he's trying to minimize it by saying his 'choice' was just during those 30 seconds, when, he claims, he was out of his mind.

I think he needs to acknowledge his choices included trying to self-treat his mental health problems and secrecy about what he was actually experiencing.

We don't know how long he'd been making those choices.
Maybe he'd been doing that all along and, fortunately for his passengers, he'd managed to get away with it to that point.

Most people who commit a serious crime have managed to not commit the crime for many years. It doesn't mean we say, for example, well you spent 45 years without assaulting anyone, so this time we'll let it go.

JMO
Click to expand...

We should blame the system for promoting a culture of silence.

"Giovanetti acknowledged a lack of trust between the FAA and pilots, who don't believe the agency's assurances that they can fly again after a mental health diagnosis.
The vast majority of pilots do ultimately get their certification back, Giovanetti said. But she acknowledged that the process can often take months or years, calling those excessive delays "the elephant in the room" that can discourage pilots from seeking treatment."


 
Skimmed the thread but I'm still not understanding why he was allowed in the cockpit in the first place. Who cares if he was a pilot? He wasn't one of THE pilots for that flight. Why was he in there? No one but the assigned pilots/attendants should be in the cockpit, period. It's surprising that something like that would be allowed in 202X.

The press tour is, IMO, an attempt to make people feel sorry for him in hopes that the feds will go easy on him. I'm not buying it and I hope the feds aren't either. He's facing over 80 federal charges and I hope they hit him hard. I don't buy the magic mushrooms excuse at all :rolleyes: (jmo).

This was like attempting a suicide bombing, or attempting to shoot up a school. He tried to kill dozens of completely helpless people. I don't buy his characterization that it was just a 30-second lapse in judgement/lucidity. This is a dangerous individual.
 
red carpet fiber said:
Skimmed the thread but I'm still not understanding why he was allowed in the cockpit in the first place. Who cares if he was a pilot? He wasn't one of THE pilots for that flight. Why was he in there? No one but the assigned pilots/attendants should be in the cockpit, period. It's surprising that something like that would be allowed in 202X.
Click to expand...
^^rsbm

This was an Alaska Airline flight and Emerson is one of their pilots. This is not unusual practice for their own and not something extended to any "pilot."
 
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