Off-Duty Pilot Who Tried To Crash Alaska Airlines Plane While On Shrooms Thought It Would Wake Him Up From Psychotic Breakdown • Hollywood Unlocked

The off-duty pilot who attempted to take down an Alaska Airlines plane says he only committed the dangerous act because he wanted to get out of a bad trip while on mushrooms.

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Joseph Emerson explained the bizarre ordeal while speaking with the New York Times and said he thought if he stopped both engines, the plane would start nosediving, which could wake him from the bad trip. As previously reported, Emerson reportedly suffered from a days-long mental breakdown and spiraled into a paranoid state where he wondered if he was dreaming during the flight. He took the magic mushrooms two days before the incident during a weekend getaway with friends to celebrate the life of a late friend.

His friend’s passing in 2018 sent Emerson into deep grief, and his therapists suggested he should seek medical treatment for his depression. However, he couldn’t take the prescription drugs due to Virgin Airlines’ strict policies, which would prevent him from flying.

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Emerson decided to self-medicate and tried the mushrooms for the first time, which led him to endure a week-long episode, as reported by the New York Post. “I thought of a lot of traumatic things in that time where I was like, ‘Am I dead? Is this hell? I’m reliving that trauma,” Emerson explained.

When Emerson was on his way to the airport, his state of mind started to confuse him as he felt like the GPS and the flight attendants were tricking him once he boarded the flight. He began to experience panic attacks and agitation during the flight from Washington to Oregon, which led him to decide to shut the plane engines off. After his arrest, he reportedly masturbated, urinated on himself, and attempted to jump out of a window while naked in the airport’s detention room.

As previously reported, the off-duty pilot is charged with 83 counts of attempted murder and is being held without bail.

“That crew got dealt a situation there’s no manual, checklist or procedure that’s been written for. And they did an exemplary job keeping me and the rest of the people on that plane safe.”