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A former pilot who tried to shut down a passenger plane’s engine mid-flight is hoping to one day be able to fly again.
In his most detailed interview since the incident, Joseph Emerson, 44, spoke about the tragic lapse in reason that ruined his career, the emotional impact it has had on his family and his prospects for the future.
“I wish I could change 30 seconds of my life, but I can’t,” he said in an ABC News interview published Friday.
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In his first extended interview since his arrest in late 2023, former pilot Joseph David Emerson described the nightmarish hallucinatory episode that ruined his flying career. (Joseph Emerson/Facebook/Fox News)
Emerson was in a jump seat on Horizon Air Flight 2059, an Alaska Airlines subsidiary, when he allegedly tried to pull two handles that would activate the fire suppression system and cut off the fuel supply to the engines.
The pilot had taken hallucinogenic mushrooms a week before the incident while on a weekend trip with friends in memory of a fallen friend.
The hallucinogenic effects of mushrooms usually last for a few hours, but Emerson claims the side effects lasted for several days.
On October 22, the plane was en route from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco when Emerson began to lose consciousness and believe he was “trapped” in the “imaginary” plane.
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Joseph David Emerson was accused of trying to shut down the engine of a plane he was flying on while off duty last year after what he said was a manic episode triggered by taking hallucinogenic mushrooms while on a trip with friends a few days earlier. (Dave Killen/Pool/Fox News)
“At that point, I threw down my headset and knew this wasn’t real and I wasn’t going to get home,” Emerson told ABC. “And because the pilot didn’t respond to my completely erratic behavior in a way that I thought would be consistent with reality, I thought: This isn’t real. I need to wake up.”
Emerson tried to pull a red handle that would have caused the plane’s engines to shut down in mid-air, killing all 83 people on board. Tragedy was averted when the pilot restrained Emerson and safely landed the plane in Portland, Oregon.
Emerson said prison doctors diagnosed him with hallucinogen persistent perception disorder, a disorder that prolonged the effects of hallucinogens and confused his sense of reality in the cockpit.
he He pleaded not guilty to 83 charges. He was charged with 83 counts of attempted murder and one count of manslaughter in connection with the incident.
Although the murder charges against Emerson were dropped, the former pilot still faces more than 80 state and federal charges.
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Joseph David Emerson told ABC News he hopes to be able to fly again one day, but is willing to accept whatever the consequences of the drug-related accident. (Joe Emerson/X/Fox News)
“At the end of the day, I take responsibility for the choices I made. They were my choices,” Emerson said. “My hope through the judicial process is that when society judges what happened to me, my entire experience will be accounted for, not just 30 seconds of it, and I will accept the debt that society owes me.”
Emerson is now focused on starting a new nonprofit called Clear Skies Ahead, which aims to fund programs for pilots who suffer from mental health issues.
“Of course I’d love to fly again. It would be completely disingenuous to say no,” he said. “I don’t know in what capacity I’ll fly again, or if it’s an opportunity that will be presented to me. It’s not my job to plan it. All I can do is do what’s in front of me and put myself in a position where it can happen.”
FOX Business’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
