An off-duty pilot who ‘tried to crash a plane’ with 83 people onboard after taking magic mushrooms has revealed what was running through his mind when he attempted to down the Alaska Airlines flight.
Joseph David Emerson has claimed that he was ‘completely convinced’ that what he was experiencing while sat in the cockpit was a dream and that pulling an engine-disabling red lever was the only thing that would wake him up.
But after regaining his grip on reality, he soon realised it was more of a living nightmare.
The 44-year-old pilot was off-duty and sitting behind the captain and the first-officer onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 on 22 October, 2023, when chaos unfolded in the skies.
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During the journey from Everett, Washington to San Francisco, California, Emerson alleges that he was still experiencing the effects of psychedelic mushrooms which he had taken days earlier with friends.
These are a Class A drug, which are known to impact the senses, alter the thought process of the user, distort their sense of time and have an effect on their emotions, as well as cause hallucinations.
Emerson explained he had felt unwell on the way to the airport and had began to fear that he would never make it home.
And when he strapped himself into the jump seat inside of the cockpit, this sense of uneasiness only worsened.
Discussing his thoughts at the time, the pilot told ABC News: “There was a feeling of being trapped, like, ‘Am I trapped in this airplane and now I’ll never go home?'”
Joseph David Emerson has spoken out about the chaos which unfolded in the cockpit last year (Sam Sweeney/ABC News)
Emerson claims his panic continued to intensify as the plane soared through the skies, recalling how he was operating under the belief that he was ‘not actually going home’, adding: “I became completely convinced that none of this was real.”
In the midst of his drug-induced hysteria, he managed to text a friend who instructed him to do breathing exercises.
But when the father-of-two received this response from his pal and the message rang out in his earphones, it proved to be the straw that broke the camels back which solidified his thoughts that he was trapped in a dream.
Emerson said he ‘flung off his headset’ in complete fear and frustration, although the two other pilots barely flinched.
“And then, as the pilots didn’t react to my completely abnormal behaviour in a way that I thought would be consistent with reality, that is when I was like, this isn’t real,” he said.
‘I need to wake up’
What he did in the next 30 seconds ultimately put 83 peoples lives in danger, spelled the end of his career as a pilot and has resulted in him being slapped with charges which could see him locked up for decades.
Explaining his thought process – which he insists was skewed by the lasting effects of the psychedelic mushrooms – Emerson said: “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.
“What I thought is, ‘This is going to wake me up. 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.”
The pilot claims he was in a dream-like state and did not believe anything was real (ABC News)
Despite yanking the levers which were the engine shut-off controls, the pilots sprang into action and pulled his hands away – which Emerson says is what brought him back down to earth.
“It was really the pilot’s physical touch on my hand,” he said. “Both pilots grabbed my hands where I kind of stopped and I had that moment, which I’ll just say, I view this moment as a gift.”
After being ejected from the cockpit, Emerson then walked into the cabin and took a swig directly from a coffee pot before plonking himself in the flight attendants’ jump seat – however, he claims his dream-like state then enveloped him again.
Emerson explained then began to wonder whether ‘just jumping out’ of the jet would waking him up, so he then grabbed a lever on the cabin door and considered yanking it open.
Thankfully, the actions of the quick-thinking crew again saved the passengers onboard from any peril.
Horror realisation
Emerson said the ‘human touch’ from the flight attendant who stopped him from opening the door brought him back around and this is when it began to sink in that he had lost touch with reality.
“I think around that period is when I said, ‘I don’t understand what’s real, I don’t I don’t understand what’s real’,” he added.
The pilot then asked to be restrained as he was aware he had ‘already done enough damage’, while the plane was diverted to Portland, Oregon.
Emerson was taken into custody after the Alaska Airlines flight landed, and subsequently spent 45 days behind bars.
He says he spent the first four days still feeling the effects of the mushrooms he had taken.
Emerson insists he was hallucinating throughout the flight – and for four more days afterwards (ABC News)
The dad explained that a jail physician told him that he had suffered from a condition called hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which can cause a first-time user of psychedelics to suffer from persistent visual hallucinations or perception issues for several days afterward.
Although he was initially facing 83 charges of attempted murder, prosecutors have since reduced them.
Emerson is instead awaiting sentencing on 80 state and federal charges, which include 83 counts of reckless endangerment. He has pleaded not guilty.
Although he is willing to ‘accept responsibility for the choices that I made’, the pilot issued a plea regarding the judgement on his case.
Emerson said: “What I hope 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.”
