High On Mushrooms, Alaska Air Pilot Tries To Shut Off Plane Engines Mid-Air. He Was Off-Duty

Emerson later told law enforcement officials that he was feeling the effects of so-called "magic mushrooms" he'd eaten two days earlier.

12 Dec 2025, 07:48 · NDTV

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Joseph Emerson, an off-duty pilot, tried to shut down engines on an Alaska Airlines flight.
Emerson was reportedly high on magic mushrooms and sleep-deprived during the incident.
The plane made an emergency landing in Portland after Emerson pulled emergency shut-off handles.

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A sleep-deprived and off-duty pilot, who was reportedly "high on magic mushrooms", has been accused of trying to crash an Alaska Airlines plane packed with 83 other passengers and crew on board, flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Joseph Emerson was reportedly sitting on a jump seat in the cockpit of the plane when he suddenly lunged for the two emergency engine shut-off handles in the ceiling panel and started to pull them down.

The incident happened in October 2023 on an Embraer E75 regional jet operated by Alaska's regional subsidiary Horizon Air. A cockpit audio of the flight recently emerged online, documenting the moment Emerson tried to shut down the plane's engine.

In the audio, the on-duty pilot can be heard asking Emerson what's wrong after he tells him he wants to go home.

This was followed by sounds of struggle and profanities as the pilot asks, "Dude, what's going on?!"

"Horizon, we need to make an emergency landing," the now-out-of-breath pilot then told air traffic controllers.

"We've got a jump seater just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland, now," he added.

Emerson later told law enforcement officials that he was feeling the effects of so-called "magic mushrooms" he'd eaten two days earlier.

A video has also emerged of the time when local prosecutors in Portland, Oregon, walked Emerson off the plane in handcuffs after the flight made an emergency landing in Portland.

Why 'Off-Duty' Pilot Was In Cockpit

According to a CBS News report, it was because of the full flight that Emerson ended up in the cockpit jump seat.

The handles he pulled in the cockpit were meant to cut off fuel in the event of a fire.

Emerson previously told CBS News he was in a "dream" or "dissociative state," and thought pulling the handles would "wake me up."

"It didn't wake me up, right. I was in reality. I know that now...It's the most consequential three seconds of my life," he said.

Emerson has pleaded guilty to charges of interfering with a flight crew. He pleaded no contest to charges of endangering an aircraft and 83 counts of endangering another person. For the guilty plea, he was sentenced to time served, having spent 46 days in jail, and three years of supervised release.

For other charges, he was sentenced to five years of probation and time served.

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