According to airline officials, the pilot attempted to turn off the plane’s engines while flying from Washington State to California.
After attempting to crash a plane during a mid-flight “mental breakdown,” an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot has been charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, according to local authorities and witnesses.
Joseph David Emerson, a 44-year-old pilot, attempted to activate the jet’s fire-suppression system on a recent trip from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California, which would have stopped the flow of gasoline to the aircraft’s engines and probably resulted in a disastrous crash.
An Alaska Airlines spokeswoman informed the New York Post that Emerson, who was off duty at the time, “tried to disrupt the operation of the engines but was unsuccessful.” “Without incident, the crew landed the aircraft.”
The statement explained that while the fire-suppression mechanism was briefly activated, some residual fuel generally remains in the line, “and the quick reaction of our crew to reset the handles restored fuel flow and prevented fuel starvation.”
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Passenger Aubrey Gavello, who saw the incident take place, claims that the flight crew alerted other passengers of a medical problem in the cockpit before diverting the aircraft to land safely in Portland, Oregon.
The flight attendant returned to the microphone and simply stated, “He had a mental breakdown. Gavello told ABC News, “We had to get him off the plane as soon as possible.
Nobody was hurt during the brief incident since crew members were able to eventually control Emerson. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to the Post that he is currently facing a significant range of serious criminal accusations, including 83 counts of attempted first-degree murder, 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one offence of first-degree endangering an aircraft.
Federal investigators are currently looking into the pilot, and according to former FBI intelligence officer Joshua Skule, they will “unpack this person’s life” and “go through his social media, all of his computers, and his phones.” However, an unnamed source with knowledge of the probe told the Post that Emerson was probably not driven by ideology, implying that the incident was related to a mental health issue.
