Wild new cockpit audio reveals moment Alaska Airlines pilot tried to crash plane mid-flight: ‘Just tried to shut our engines off’
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
