Bad Trip: The Off-Duty Alaska Airlines Pilot Who Tried To Shut Down a Plane's Engines Mid-Flight Was Apparently On Magic Mushrooms For The First Time In His Life
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin. Getty Images.We're a day removed from the news of an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot going rogue while sitting in the jump seat of a plane and attempting to shutdown both engines. He's now pled not guilty to 83 counts of attempted murder. If you want to catch up on the story, I blogged it first, here.
Well turns out this maniac took shrooms for the first time and lost his goddamn mind.
According to a federal affidavit, Emerson said 'I'm not okay' before reaching up to grab two red fire handles which would have cut the plane's engines, and he later told federal officials: 'Yah …I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.'
The affidavit also states Emerson reported becoming depressed around six months ago, and said it was his first time taking psychedelic mushrooms.
In a statement from the District of Oregon Department of Justice, they said: 'Emerson attempted to grab and pull two red fire handles that would have activated the plane’s emergency fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
'After a brief physical struggle with the pilots, Emerson exited the cockpit,' said a statement from the District of Oregon Department of Justice.
You wanna talk about the single worst place to trip on shrooms? Yeah I'd say being in the cockpit of an airplane 10,000 feet in the sky is right at the very top of the list. Nightmare city. He admits he was depressed months prior, but that doesn't mean you need to try and kill 83 innocent people. The pilot is also now facing a federal charge of interfering with flight crew members, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.
Now this may come off as cold, but don't tell me he's a family man and that he had a mental breakdown to make me feel sympathy for him. That's what the Post did.
Did we already forget this motherfucker tried to take down an entire plane? We very nearly had a massive American tragedy on our hands if not for the crew regaining control of the cockpit. Miss with the fact that his kids like him.
As the story goes, he actually walked unrestrained towards the back of the plane after getting kicked out of the cockpit. My only rationale there is they were so concerned with wrestling him out of the cockpit that the pilots didn't have time to alert the rest of the crew.
Even after being seated though, he then tired to open up the emergency exit.
One passenger described Emerson's behavior as 'bizarre.' Bailey Beck told SFGATE that after being removed from the cockpit, the pilot walked to the back of the plane without having to be restrained where he was handcuffed to a rail.
Flight attendants had to place Emerson in wrist restraints and seat him in the rear of the aircraft. Emerson then tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit and a flight attendant stopped him by placing her hands on top of his, according to the DOJ
Jail. So much jail. Again shout out to the pilots and crew for handling this and avoiding disaster.
Also if you're gonna do shrooms for the first time get yourself a sherpa and for the love of god don't go on a plane.