An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot pleaded not guilty to all charges after he allegedly tried to shut down a plane’s engine mid-flight.
Alaska Airlines Capt. Joseph Emerson, 44, was charged after an incident on Sunday where he allegedly tried to turn off the engine of a plane traveling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco. The airline says he “unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines” of Alaska Airlines Flight 2059, which is operated by Horizon Air.
Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines are owned by Alaska Air Group.
Emerson pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in a Multnomah County, Oregon courtroom to state-level charges, including 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft. He was sitting in the flight deck jump seat.
He’s also facing a federal charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
Alaska Airlines said Emerson was unsuccessful in shutting down the engines by engaging the fire suppression system.
“The fire suppression system consists of a T-handle for each engine. If the T-handle is fully deployed, a valve in the wing closes to shut off fuel to the engine,” Alaska said. “In this case, the quick reaction of our crew to reset the T-handles ensured engine power was not lost.”
Federal charging documents state that Emerson told police that he didn’t take any medication, but said he was depressed, adding it was his first-time taking psychedelic mushrooms.
Prosecutors also say that Emerson told law enforcement officers that he was having a “nervous breakdown” and had not slept in 40 hours when he allegedly tried to shut down the plane’s engine.
“I didn’t feel okay. It seemed like the pilots weren’t paying attention to what was going on. They didn’t…it didn’t seem right,” Emerson allegedly said. “Yah…I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.”
A spokesperson for Alaska Airlines pointed Fox News Digital to an updated statement on the incident.
According to the statement, Emerson has been removed from service “indefinitely” and relieved of all duties at Alaska Airlines.
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“The details in the DOJ affidavit describing the actions of our flight crew are consistent with our understanding of what occurred based on debriefings with each member of the flight crew. Upon exiting the flight deck, both Flight Attendants confirmed that Emerson was escorted by a Flight Attendant to the rear of the aircraft where Emerson was placed in wrist restraints and belted into the aft jump seat. Our crew also confirmed that Emerson attempted to grab the handle of the emergency exit during the aircraft’s descent before being stopped by a Flight Attendant,” Alaska Airlines said. “Consistent with our pilots’ collective bargaining agreement, we are consulting with our partners in labor regarding his employment status.”
Fox Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.