The airline pilot who allegedly tried to crash an Alaska Airlines flight after admitting to taking magic mushrooms was once a security officer at his California flight club, The Post has learned.
Joseph Emerson, 44, was a “consummate professional” when a member of the NRI Flying Club in Concord, California, president Adam Silverthorne told The Post.
“He was an authorized instructor in the NRI Flying Club and served for a year or two as the club’s safety officer where he promoted a culture of safety and continuous training,” he said.
“It’s impossible for me to imagine him intentionally trying to hurt anyone, it’s just not who he is.”
Emerson served as the club’s security officer for about two years, before leaving the position in 2019. He then left the club in 2021 to make more time for work and time with his family, Silverthorne said.
While off duty and in the jump seat of a flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco Sunday, Emerson allegedly tried to cut off the fuel in the plane’s engine before being restrained and ejected from the cockpit.
Even while handcuffed in the back of the plane, he had to be restrained by a flight attendant after trying to open the emergency door, according to federal charging documents.
Joe Emerson, 41, appeared in court in Portland, Oregon, Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted murder. POOL Emerson was previously a security officer at his flying club in California for about two years. Joseph Emerson/Facebook
Once the plane had made a safe emergency landing, Emerson was charged with 83 counts of attempted murder – one for each passenger and crew on board.
When interviewed by law enforcement, he admitted he had taken mushrooms before the flight and that he had been depressed for about six months.
“I admit what I did,” he told police, according to an affidavit obtained by The Post. “I don’t fight any of the charges you want to bring against me, guys.”
Commercial airline pilots like Emerson are required to take drug tests every six months, and individual airlines regularly submit their pilots to random tests, explained Kevin Trexler, owner of the Trexair Flight Academy, which is based at the same airport as the NRI Flying Club. .
“He didn’t fly the plane but the law for sitting in a jump seat says you can’t use drugs in case of an emergency,” Trexler said.
“They get to travel from point A to point B, so the bottom line is you have to be alert. If something happens to one of the pilots, you’re expected to jump in.”
Joseph Emerson reportedly admitted to Portland police that he once took a magic mushroom before flying. POOL Emerson allegedly told police, “I admit what I did.” via REUTERS
The only time Trexler can recall a “jump seat” trying to take down a plane before was in 1985, when FedEx employee Auburn Calloway tried to hijack and crash a cargo plane before the pilot stopped him.
In that case, Calloway’s attempt was part of a planned scheme to kill himself so that his family could obtain a multi-million dollar life insurance policy.
Emerson just renewed his airline transport pilot license with the Federal Aviation Authority on July 10.
The agency closely monitors any prescription medication taken by commercial pilots, Trexler said, adding that medicated pilots cannot fly unless their doctor has signed off with the FAA.
“He probably just snapped. I wasn’t there, but I don’t think someone would do something like that after years of training. For someone to go through all that training, get a job, work in the industry for that long and then want to destroy it – something else must be wrong,” Trexler said.
It is unclear whether anything specific led to Emerson’s depression. Neighbors on his street in Pleasant Hill, California, told The Post that he, his wife and their two children seemed very happy and that they had never heard or seen any fights among themselves.
An Alaska Airlines flight had to land in Portland, Oregon, after taking off from Everett, Washington.Getty Images
The flight had to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, where Emerson was arrested.
He appeared in federal and state court in Portland on Tuesday where he was formally charged. Emerson pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
