Portland: The off-duty airline pilot riding in an extra cockpit seat on a Horizon Air flight said 'I'm not OK' just before trying to shut down the engines mid flight.
According to charging documents made public Tuesday, the pilot, Joseph David Emerson, told the police that he had recently taken psychedelic mushrooms (better known as magic mushrooms) as his mental health worsened.
State prosecutors in Oregon filed 83 counts of attempted murder against the Alaska Airlines pilot just before he appeared in court, with his attorney, Noah Horst, entering not guilty pleas on his behalf. Federal prosecutors meanwhile charged Emerson with interfering with a flight crew, which can carry up to 20 years in prison.
According to a probable cause statement filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Emerson told Port of Portland police following his arrest that he had been struggling with depression as he was coping with the demise of one of his friends. He had taken psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before he attempted to cut the engines. He had not slept in more than 40 hours, the document quoted him as saying.
According to the police, Emerson did not appear to be intoxicated at the time of the interview, and in a statement Tuesday, Alaska Airlines, which owns Horizon, said neither the gate agents nor flight crew noticed any signs of impairment that might have barred him from the flight. An FBI agent wrote in a probable cause affidavit in support of the federal charge that Emerson said it was his first-time taking mushrooms.
Emerson, an Alaska Airlines pilot from Pleasant Hill, California, was arrested Sunday night after the flight crew reported that he attempted 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. (With AP inputs)
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