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 repeatedly 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.
David Emerson was sentenced to time served and supervised release. APEmerson 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,” the out-of-breath flight crew member can be heard urging.
A short time later, the pilot can be heard in the audio recording telling air traffic control they managed to eject Emerson from the cockpit.
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. He revealed he was trying to wake himself up by grabbing the red handles in the cockpit.
Emerson was trying to crash a plane with 84 people on board before the engine shut down in October 2023. Courtesy Aubrey GavelloIn dashcam video showing Emerson handcuffed in the back seat of a squad car, he meekly asks the officer driving if he believes in forgiveness.
“I want to be accountable, but am I gonna be forgiven for being so stupid? I don’t even know if I can forgive myself.”
He also told police he was “having a nervous breakdown” and that he hadn’t slept in 48 hours, and was depressed after the recent death of a close friend.
Emerson was later ejected from the cockpit. ABC7 Bay Area“I have this feeling like nothing is real,” he said.
Emerson was charged at the federal level with interfering with a flight crew and hit with 83 misdemeanor counts of endangering another person and one felony count of endangering an aircraft in a separate state indictment.
He pleaded no contest to the state charges and was sentenced to 50 days in jail, 664 hours of community service and $60,569 in restitution.
Emerson took a plea deal last month, in which he was given credit for time already served, along with three-and-a-half years of supervised release. via REUTERS“What Joseph Emerson did was reckless, selfish, and criminal,” Multnomah County, Oregon, Deputy District Attorney Eric Pickard said after he was sentenced.
“We should remember how close he came to ruining the lives of not just the 84 people aboard Flight 2059, but all of their family members and friends as well.”
Last month, Emerson took a federal plea deal and was given credit for time served and three-and-a-half years of supervised release
