Off-duty pilot who tried to cut engines mid-flight ‘took mushrooms’

Mr Emerson, an Alaska Airlines pilot from Pleasant Hill, California, was arrested on Sunday night after the flight crew reported that he tried to shut down the engines on a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco while riding in the extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

The FBI affidavit said Mr Emerson, who as an off-duty pilot was authorised to ride in the cockpit’s jump seat, made casual conversation with the captain and first officer when the plane was between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, before trying to grab two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.

‘You need to cuff me right now’

After what the flight crew described as a brief struggle, lasting about 30 seconds, Mr Emerson left the cockpit, the FBI said.

Flight attendants placed Mr Emerson in wrist restraints and seated him in the rear of the aircraft. But as the plane descended, he tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit, according to the document. A flight attendant stopped him by placing her hands on top of his, it said.

Alaska Airlines said on Tuesday that Mr Emerson had been relieved of all duties.

Mr Horst did not immediately speak with reporters after the hearing or respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.

The captain and first officer told police after the plane landed that Mr Emerson said, “I’m not OK,” just before he reached up to pull the handles. They were able to stop him before he pulled the handles all the way down, the affidavit said.

Mr Emerson walked calmly to the back of the plane after being told to leave the cockpit and told a flight attendant, “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad,” the affidavit said. Another flight attendant heard him saying, “I messed everything up” and “tried to kill everybody”.

‘I thought I was dreaming’

According to the affidavit, he asked police if he could waive his right to an attorney: “I’m admitting to what I did. I’m not fighting any charges you want to bring against me, guys.”

He also told them he thought he was having a nervous breakdown and said, “I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up,” according to the affidavit.

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 practised putting the plane into a dive.

Mr Emerson took his most recent exam in September, Federal Aviation Administration records show. But according to the charging documents, he had long been struggling with depression.

Mr Emerson was to remain in state custody pending an initial appearance in US District Court in Portland, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

Mark Angelos, a senior flight instructor at the NRI Flying Club in Concord, California, has known Mr Emerson for more than 10 years. Mr 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, Mr Angelos said.

Mr 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 could not 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.

AP