‘I’m not OK’: Off-duty pilot claimed ‘nervous breakdown’ before trying to shutdown plane engines

An off-duty pilot traveling from Everett to San Francisco who is accused of trying to shut off the engines of the airplane he was on described his mental health problems and previous use of psychedelics, according to a federal affidavit.

The Alaska Airlines flight, operated by Horizon Air, from Everett’s Paine Field Airport was diverted to Portland, Oregon, Sunday night after Joseph Emerson, who was authorized to ride in the cockpit, reached for the emergency engine shutdown midflight.

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Emerson, a 44-year-old pilot with Alaska Airlines, was charged Tuesday with one count of interfering with a flight crew after he tried to engage the emergency engine shutdown mid-flight. That charge alone can carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The pilot was taken into police custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center Monday on suspicion 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment.

Emerson’s attorney, Noah Horst, entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf in Oregon Tuesday afternoon.

According to an affidavit from an FBI special agent investigating the incident, the plane’s two pilots said Emerson seemed normal at first, casually talking about different plane models and the weather. About halfway between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, though, Emerson stood up, threw his headset across the cockpit, and said, “I’m not OK,” before reaching for the red fire suppression handles.

According to the affidavit, the fire suppression includes an emergency fuel shutoff to the engines, effectively shutting down the engines and “turning the aircraft into a glider within seconds.”

One of the pilots recounted the incident to authorities, saying that when he saw Emerson reaching for the handles, he grabbed his wrists and wrestled against him, preventing Emerson from pulling the shutdown handle. As one pilot stopped Emerson, the other declared an inflight emergency and redirected the plane to Portland.

After about 30 seconds of struggling, the pilots said that Emerson settled down and left the cockpit when asked. Flight attendants on the plane said that they were told Emerson “was losing it,” and he told one of the attendants, “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad.”

Emerson was detained in the back of the plane until it landed in Portland, but during the flight’s descent, Emerson tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit door before a flight attendant stopped him. Emerson reportedly said to himself that he “messed everything up” and that “he tried to kill everybody.”

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“Emerson was removed from service indefinitely and relieved from all duties at Alaska Airlines,” the airline said in a statement to KIRO Newsradio. “Consistent with our pilots’ collective bargaining agreement, we are consulting with our partners in labor regarding his employment status.”

Also, thanks to a document from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, the identities of the pilots and flight attendants aboard the plane were revealed. Authorities in Oregon interviewed pilots Alan Koziol and Emil Riemer and spoke to Terree Fiala and Correnna Schlosser who are flight attendants.

Emerson explains after the plane lands

When in police custody in Portland, Emerson waived his Miranda rights and told officers he believed he was having a “nervous breakdown.” He added that he felt dehydrated and tired and had not slept in 40 hours.

“I didn’t feel OK. It seemed like the pilots weren’t paying attention to what was going on. They didn’t…it didn’t seem right.” Emerson told officers, according to the affidavit. “Yeah…I pulled both emergency shut-off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.”

Emerson also told officers that he had become depressed about six months earlier, and a friend of his recently died.

Also, while Emerson denied taking any medication before the flight, he did tell an officer he consumed psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before the incident on the plane. It is unclear in the affidavit if Emerson was under the influence of the mushrooms at the time of the flight.

When asked whether Emerson took psychedelic mushrooms right before the flight, Kevin Sonoff, the spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, said that was still under investigation. According to the Multnomah County document, an officer said “he did not observe Emerson to be outwardly under the influence of intoxicants.”

Emerson admitted to an officer that he was in crisis and he put “84 lives at risk” Sunday night, including his own.

But when an officer asked Emerson if he was trying to kill himself during the incident on the plane, he said Emerson didn’t answer.

“I’m admitting to what I did. I’m not fighting any charges you want to bring against me, guys,” Emerson reportedly said.

Psychological screenings required

Pilots are required to undergo psychological screening as part of their regularly scheduled medical exams. There have been crashes that investigators believe were deliberately caused by pilots. Authorities said the copilot of a Germanwings jet that crashed in the French Alps in 2015 had practiced putting the plane into a dive.

Emerson took his most recent exam in September, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Mark Angelos, a senior flight instructor at the NRI Flying Club in Concord, California, has known Emerson for more than 10 years. Emerson used to be president of the club and designed its safety program, meaning he was in charge of making sure instructors followed standard operating procedures, Angelos said.

Angelos said that when he and other club members initially heard the news, they thought Horizon Air must have been conducting an emergency drill to test its crew. They couldn’t believe that a person they saw as a family man who loved his children could be accused of such a thing.

“It just couldn’t have been our Joe,” he said.

Contributing: The Associated Press; Steve Coogan