A Portland television station has obtained the cockpit voice recording of the moment a former Alaska Airlines pilot tried to cut fuel to the engines of a Horizon Air E175 he was deadheading in two years ago. Capt. Joe Emerson was heading home to San Francisco from Everett, Washington, in the jumpseat of the Embraer when he said “I’m not OK” and suddenly reached for the emergency engine cutoff and fire extinguisher handles on the overhead panel of the regional jet. The pilots managed to prevent him from fully actuating the handles, and the audio captures the sounds of the struggle and the emergency call to air traffic control. “Horizon 2059, we need to make an emergency landing,” one of the pilots said. “We got a jump seater, just tried to shut our engines off, we need to go direct to Portland, now!”
Police, passenger, and surveillance video in the report shows Emerson being led off the plane, and a camera inside the police car recorded him telling officer that he was having a “nervous breakdown.” He also told the officers he had taken hallucinogenic mushrooms two days previously while attending a weekend event with friends to mark the death of one of their friends. Emerson was originally charged with the attempted murder of all 84 people onboard but eventually pleaded guilty to a federal charge and two state charges. He was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release earlier this month on the federal charge, the last to be dealt with. Emerson and his wife have started a foundation calling for changes to pilot medical procedures surrounding mental health issues they say force them to avoid treatment out of fear of losing their flight privileges.
Try and kill a planeload of people, start a foundation – become a voice/hero/advocate for change. Welcome to the new reality! Wow.