Pilot says he took magic mushrooms before trying to crash passenger plane mid-flight

An off-duty pilot who allegedly tried to shut down the engines of an Alaska Airlines plane in midair later told police he had taken magic mushrooms before the flight.

Joseph Emerson, 44, was arrested in Oregon, US, on Sunday and charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, plus a count of endangering an aircraft.

Flight attendants reported that they were forced to put him in wrist restraints and sit him at the back of the plane after the incident.

Emerson was riding in the extra seat in the cockpit on a flight from Washington state to San Francisco, California, when he tried to cut fuel to the engines, according to court documents.

Even after attendants overpowered him, he allegedly tried to open the emergency exit.

Horizon Air flight 2059 was diverted to Portland, where the plane carrying more than 80 people landed, and the suspect was detained.

via Reuters

After his arrest, Emerson told police he had taken magic mushrooms for the first time and had been depressed for six months, according to an FBI statement.

He claimed he had not slept for 40 hours at the time, and was having a nervous breakdown.

He allegedly told crew: “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad.”

“I messed everything up,” he told one attendant, according to the criminal complaint, adding that he allegedly “tried to kill everybody”.

According to court documents, Emerson later said: “I pulled both emergency shutoff handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.”

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