Posted on 12/09/2025 12:35:04 PM PST by DFG
Chilling cockpit audio and dashcam footage sheds new light on the moments former Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson attempted to bring down a commercial flight with 84 people on board by shutting down its engines in October, 2023.
“I’m not ok,” a distressed-sounding Emerson says in the audio obtained by KGW Portland.
“What’s wrong? You want to be home?” a confused member of the plane’s flight crew asks.
Emerson then unleashes a string of expletives, and a struggle can be heard erupting in the cockpit of the San Francisco-bound jet.
“Horizon, we need to make an emergency landing. We got a jump seater just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland, now.”
Emerson was off-duty and seated in the cockpit’s jump seat when the terrifying incident unfolded.
He later told police he had eaten psychedelic mushrooms two days earlier and thought he was dreaming when he tried to cut the fuel supply to the plane.
Last month, Emerson took a federal plea deal and was given credit for time served and three-and-a-half years of supervised release.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Drugs.
Woah...heavy, dude.
Dayum! Thank you for flying Alaska Airlines. We know you had a choice. Buh bye
A big contributor to everything wrong in this country. These weed advocates make me sick. Same with the a_holes that whine when we destroy a drug boat.
He claimed he had eaten psychedelic mushrooms two days earlier and thought he was dreaming.
——-
Sure, Jan. Maybe two hours earlier.
Part of the plea deal requires he shall never fly again on the controls, right?
Many, many moons ago, I was learning how to cross country ski. As we gathered to head off, one idiot offered the magic mushrooms. I declined.
Later on, we found the idiots that had not declined to ingest the "magic." They were all stopped on the trail, staring up at a snow-covered tree. They just kept staring.
Later that day, I invited my friend to ingest a Grey Goose Martini, and then we could "stare" at each other.
Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in Back to the Future:
"There's that word heavy again. Has something gone wrong with the Earth's gravitational field?"
Maybe he can do it at St. Elizabeth's. Is John Hinckley still there some of the time?
50 days in jail is not long enough IMO for someone intentionally trying to take down an airliner.
How about never fly again period. Isn’t this sort of what the no fly list is for?
Was it Airbus or Boeing ... this is important ... we need to know which manufacturer to sue.
Nice to know what airline has pilots who use ‘shrooms or LSD. I’m old enough to remember when all you had to worry about was the pilots showing up drunk or being entertained by the stewardess while flying.
Yes, the court ruled he can only fly on Trans Love Airways with Donovan and Jefferson Airplane song as his soundtrack.
For those too young to know——
“Donovan mentioned Jefferson Airplane in his 1966 song “The Fat Angel,” directly singing, “Fly Jefferson Airplane, get you there on time,” replacing his original lyric about “Trans-Love Airways,” a moment that famously boosted the San Francisco band’s profile and connected Donovan with the burgeoning psychedelic scene.”
Specifically psych drugs.
The cockpit door should have been locked. I thought that was a standard post-9/11 rule.
People need to learn how to cope with life without using magic mushrooms.
Off duty pilot. Sitting in the cockpit jumpseat. Not uncommon.
Emerson was an Alaskan Airlines pilot in the cockpit sitting in the jumpseat. Cockpit door has nothing to do with this.
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