Pilot recounts psychedelic ordeal during Alaska Airlines flight
On October 22, 2023, Joseph David Emerson attempted to crash Alaska Airlines flight number 2059. There were 83 people on board the plane. Emerson himself admitted that he was under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms at the time. Today, he is awaiting trial and explains what was going through his mind.
The pilot was arrested at the time and charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, as well as one count of endangering an aircraft. He is currently awaiting trial.
Flight 2059, which he was operating, was flying to San Francisco, California, from Everett, Washington, in the U.S. A year after the shocking events, the pilot recounted in an interview with ABC News what was going through his mind at the time.
Two days before the plane's departure, the Alaska Airlines pilot admitted that he took psychedelic mushrooms in the company of friends. They are classified as a Class A drug, which can cause hallucinations and distort reality. Their joint use was meant to commemorate the sixth anniversary of a friend's death.
However, two days later, Emerson still didn't feel well. When he got into the cockpit, he felt trapped.
The pilot felt trapped. He pulled the red lever
When he sat at the controls, he was convinced he was trapped and would never return home.
"That's kind of where I flung off my headset, and I was fully convinced this isn't real and I'm not going home," he recounted in an interview with ABC News.
The other pilots seemed not to react to his bizarre behaviour. There were 30 seconds that decided the entire tragedy.
"There are two red handles in front of my face. And thinking that I was going to wake up, thinking this is my way to get out of this non-real reality, I reached up and I grabbed them, and I pulled the levers," he recounted.
These were engine cutoff controls that could have endangered everyone on board.
"What I thought is, 'This is going to wake me up,'" he recounted.
He added that he wished he could erase those 30 seconds from his life, but he can’t.
The other pilots moved his hands away, surprised by his behaviour. Emerson admitted that the "pilot's physical touch" jolted him from his stupor and made him realize what was real and what was imaginary.
Thanks to the quick reaction of the pilots, the passengers on the plane were not endangered. Emerson was removed from the cockpit. He drank a cup of coffee and sat down. However, the hallucinations returned, and once more, he felt trapped. He then grabbed the cabin door lever, attempting to open it. A flight attendant brought him out of his haze, and he immediately asked her to put handcuffs on him so he wouldn’t cause more harm.
As soon as the plane landed, Emerson was arrested. He spent 45 days in jail before being released on bail. He is currently awaiting trial.
