US pilot who tried to cut engines mid-flight says he was having breakdown, had taken psychedelic mushrooms
- Off-duty Alaska Airlines employee Joseph David Emerson had consumed the ‘magic mushrooms’ 48 hours earlier, but did not appear impaired when he boarded
- The pilot, who is facing charges for 83 charges for attempted murder, said he ‘messed everything up’ and ‘tried to kill everybody’
An off-duty pilot accused of trying to shut off the engines of an Alaska Airlines plane during a flight over the Pacific northwest said he was having a nervous breakdown and had previously ingested psychedelic mushrooms, court documents released on Tuesday show.
Joseph David Emerson, 44, of Pleasant Hill, California, an Alaska Airlines pilot who was riding on Sunday in a jump seat in the cockpit during the flight, was charged in a federal criminal complaint on Tuesday with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
Emerson was separately charged in Oregon state court with 83 counts of attempted murder and a single count of endangering an aircraft.
After his arrest, he told an officer that he had previously taken psychedelic – or “magic” – mushrooms for the first time and had been depressed for the past six months, according to an FBI affidavit. He said he believed he was having a nervous breakdown and had not slept for 40 hours.
You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad
State court documents say Emerson had taken “magic mushrooms” about 48 hours before the incident.