Ex-Alaska Airlines Pilot Speaks Out Months After Allegedly Trying to Shut Off Plane’s Engines While on Mushrooms

Mar. 15, 2025

Joseph Emerson.Photo:ABC/Youtube

ABC/Youtube

Aformer Alaska Airlines pilotis speaking out after allegedly trying to shut off a plane’s engines during a flight last year.

Emerson explained in the interview that he had trouble deciphering what reality was while on the drug, which he says he took after a weekend of remembering his best friend Scott, who died a few years back.

“What I thought is, ‘This is going to wake me up,” Emerson said, per ABC. “I know what those levers do in a real airplane and I need to wake up from this. You know, it’s 30 seconds of my life that I wish I could change, and I can’t.”

According to theNational Institute on Drug Abuse, taking psychedelic mushrooms causes people to experience distorted sights and sounds, as well as intense emotions.

“There was a feeling of being trapped, like, ‘Am I trapped in this airplane and now I’ll never go home?’” Emerson added.

Alaska Airlines.AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

He also allegedly told investigators at the time that it was his first time taking psychedelic mushrooms, according to a federal complaint, adding that six months prior to the incident, he had become depressed.

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The attempted murder charges, however, have since been reduced to reckless endangerment, ABC reports. Emerson, who was released from custody last December, has reportedly pleaded not guilty to the charges. It’s unclear if he will go to trial.

“What I hope through the judicial processes is that the entirety of not just 30 seconds of the event, but the entirety of my experience is accounted for as society judges me on what happened,” Emerson told ABC. “And I will accept what the debt that society says I owe.”

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

source: people.com