Off-duty pilot took mushrooms and went 40hrs without sleep. It doesn’t end well after he grabbed engine fire handles at 30K feet with 83 people aboard

An Alaska Airlines jet bound for San Francisco from Everett, Washington, was forced to land in Portland after an off-duty pilot in the cockpit jump seat allegedly reached for the engine fire handles. Officials identified the man as Joseph David Emerson. Alaska Airlines said he sat in an authorized jump seat and unsuccessfully tried to disrupt the engines. A federal official briefed on the case told ABC News that investigators’ early information pointed to him pulling those fire extinguisher handles.

Crew members overpowered him, officials said, then restrained him and cuffed him to a seat. The Port of Portland confirmed he was taken into custody. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he faced 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and one felony count of endangering an aircraft. Alaska Airlines said the captain and first officer responded at once, power never dropped, and the crew kept control of the plane.

The Oct. 22, 2023, flight carried 80 passengers and four crew members, the airline said. Emerson was heading to San Francisco to work a 737 trip, a federal official said. In the moments before the struggle, he was heard saying something similar to “I’m not right,” that official told the outlet. Court papers later showed he told the two pilots, “I am not okay.”

Emerson told police he took psychedelic mushrooms before the cockpit struggle

According to the BBC, Emerson later entered a guilty plea in federal court and a no-contest plea in Oregon state court to reckless endangerment and first-degree endangering an aircraft, CBS News reported as the BBC’s U.S. partner. He told police he had taken psychedelic mushrooms and had been struggling with depression. Prosecutors under the plea deal can ask for a one-year prison term; his lawyers are expected to seek no extra jail time.

The state court sentenced him to 50 days in jail, time he had already served, plus five years of probation, 664 hours of community service, eight hours for each person he endangered, and $60,659 in restitution. Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Eric Pickard said, “What Joseph Emerson did was reckless, selfish, and criminal.”

He also said, “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.”

The criminal complaint says one pilot had to wrestle Emerson until he stopped fighting and was taken out of the cockpit. The clash lasted about 90 seconds, the papers state. Once subdued, Emerson told flight attendants, “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad.” The same documents say he later reached toward an emergency exit handle on the way down.

A flight attendant told investigators Emerson said “I messed everything up” and that he “tried to kill everybody.” Speaking in court on Friday, Emerson said the mushrooms left him unable to perceive reality, then added “that doesn’t make this right.” He said, “This difficult journey has made me a better father, a better husband, a better member of my community.” He also said, “Today I get to be the dad I was incapable of when I had to use alcohol to deal with life as life is.”

Passengers said the cabin stayed calm and mostly uninformed until landing. Aubrey Gavello told ABC News they learned of trouble only when a flight attendant announced an emergency and an immediate landing, then later called it a medical emergency.

Gavello said she heard a flight attendant tell Emerson, “We’re going to be fine, it’s OK, we’ll get you off the plane.” After the plane stopped, she said the attendant told the cabin, “He had a mental breakdown. We needed to get him off the plane immediately.” This follows a pattern of in-flight disruptions, such as when a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Dallas allegedly had a meltdown that forced others to duct tape and zip tie him to his seat.

Alex Wood said the pilot announced a disturbance in the cockpit. Wood described the handling as professional and calm and said people did not understand what had happened until they were on the ground. Police then walked a handcuffed man off the aircraft, Wood said. The man wore a lanyard and a sweater and looked like an airline employee.

The FBI said it was investigating and that no threat remained. The FAA said the episode had no link to world events at the time. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg thanked the crew and controllers who brought the jet in safely. Emerson may complete half of his community service at Clear Skies Ahead, a pilot-health nonprofit he and his wife started after the arrest.

In 2025, CBS News reported that Emerson pleaded guilty to the federal charges Friday as part of a deal with prosecutors. He is expected to plead no contest to the state charges, which carries the same legal effect under the law. Such incidents can cause significant disruption, like when a full American Airlines flight was deplaned at midnight over a reportedly tired pilot.