‘Most consequential 3 seconds': Ex-Alaska Airlines pilot recalls attempting to shut off flight's engine mid-air; feared fatal end
Former Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson, recalls the most 'consequential three seconds' of his life when he had pulled down levers that could cut off fuel to the engines in an Alaska Air Flight 2059, reports CBS News.
He had reportedly been under the influence of 'magic mushrooms' and lost sense of reality.
Emerson boarded the flight bound for San Francisco as a passenger from Everett, Washington with 83 other passengers and crew on board. He was assigned the cockpit jump seat located behind the pilot and first officer.
"I had no intention of crashing an actual airplane. I wanted to wake up. I was convinced I wasn't going home to my wife and kids," he said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday.
At that time he was grieving the death of his best friend and reportedly experimented with the psychedelic drug.
"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," he said recalling the incident. "I mean, in the dream, in that dissociative state, I thought they were going to wake me up. It didn't wake me up, right? I was in reality. I know that now. You know, it's the most consequential three seconds of my life.'
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"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,' he was quoted saying by ABC News.
The flight was diverted and landed safely in Portland, Oregon, where Emerson was taken into custody. He is scheduled to face trial next month on a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew, and also faces numerous state charges, including 83 misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and one felony count of first-degree endangering an aircraft, reported CBS News.
Since then the National Transportation Safety Board has since hosted a first-of-its-kind forum focused on pilot mental health to examine current regulations.
The FAA launched its own policy review, with both agencies advocating for reforms to remove barriers to mental health care.
"Our pilots and air traffic controllers are not going to lose their job when they ask for help. We in this country must recognize that that's strength.
And they're not to be punished. We're going to help them, process them, and get them back into cockpits," said Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber, reported CBS News.
Illinois Rep. Sean Casten and Minnesota Rep. Pete Stauber are spearheading a bipartisan push in Congress to implement reforms within two years through the Mental Health in Aviation Act. The legislation aims to improve access to mental health care for pilots and air traffic controllers and expand the number of medical examiners available.
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