A former Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday as part of an agreement with prosecutors. He’s expected to plead no-contest to state charges, which carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea.
Joseph Emerson told CBS News in July he takes full responsibility for the night in October 2023. His attorney, Noah Horst, said the plea agreement was reached because Emerson wants to take responsibility for his actions and hopes to avoid further time behind bars.
Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023. He was riding in the cockpit jump seat behind the pilot and first officer. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.
Emerson told police he was despondent over a friend’s recent death, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier, and hadn’t slept in over 40 hours. He has said he believed he was dreaming at the time and that he was trying to wake himself up by grabbing two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
“You’re not going home. You need to wake up. That’s when I acted. I pulled the handles that were in front of my face,” Emerson told CBS News he recalled thinking at the time.
Emerson of Pleasant Hill, California, was charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. A state indictment in Oregon separately charged him with 83 counts of endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft.
He previously pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and in December 2023 he was released from custody pending trial, with requirements that he undergo mental health services, stay off drugs and alcohol, and keep away from aircraft.
Under the federal agreement, prosecutors can recommend that Emerson serve up to a year in prison, while his attorneys will ask that he serve no additional time. The conditions of the state agreement include five years of probation, 664 hours of community service — eight hours for each person he endangered — and $60,569 in restitution, nearly all of it to Alaska Air Group, Horst said.
Half of his community service can be performed at a pilot health nonprofit, Clear Skies Ahead, Emerson founded with his wife after his arrest. He must also undergo assessments for drug and alcohol and mental health treatment, refrain from using any non-prescribed drugs, and keep at least 25 feet away from operable aircraft unless he has permission from his probation officer. Emerson says he’s been sober since the incident.
The averted disaster renewed attention on cockpit safety and the mental fitness of those allowed in them.
contributed to this report.
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