Off-Duty Alaskan Airlines Pilot Who Tried To Shut Down Plane’s Engines Mid-Flight Was On Magic Mushrooms

I can’t really think of a worse place to trip on mushrooms than in the cockpit of a plane 30,000 feet up in the sky, but apparently this was a contributor to the near-tragic incident involving an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot on Sunday evening (22 October).

Joseph Emerson, 44, is being charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after attempting to shut down both engines of Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 mid-flight, before being thankfully subdued by the pilots and cabin crew.

It now turns out Emerson was tripping on mushrooms for the first time in his life, as he was sat in the cockpit behind the captain and the first-officer on the flight from Everett, Washington to San Francisco, California. According to a federal affidavit, Emerson said ‘I’m not okay’ before reaching up to grab two red fire handles which would have cut the plane’s engines, and he later told federal officials: ‘Yah …I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.’

The affidavit also states Emerson reported becoming depressed around six months ago, and said it was his first time taking psychedelic mushrooms. Obviously it’s very sad to hear that he was dealing with mental illness, but that doesn’t mean you have to go and kill 83 other people (and yourself), does it? Aside from the 83 counts of attempted murder, Emerson is also facing a charge for interfering with flight crew members, which itself carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Can you imagine if he actually managed to take down the plane? We would have had a massive tragedy and international news story on our hands, had it not been for the crew stopping him. Apparently, after he was wrestled out of the cockpit, Emerson walked to the back of the plane without having to be restrained and was handcuffed to a rail. He then tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit and had to be stopped from doing that too.

Well, I think we can guarantee this guy goes to jail and never finds himself in the cockpit of a plane ever again. If you’ve never done shrooms before and are planning on trying them for the first time, for the love of god don’t get on a plane.