Ex-pilot accused of trying to cut a passenger flight’s engines reaches plea offers, his lawyer says | Latest Travel News
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A former Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while driving off-duty in the cockpit has reached plea agreements with state and federal prosecutors, his attorney said Thursday.
Attorney Noah Horst declined to talk about particulars of the agreements forward of change-of-plea hearings his shopper, Joseph Emerson, faces Friday in state and federal court in Oregon. He said that Emerson reached the plea agreements because he desires to take accountability for his actions and hopes to keep away from additional time behind bars.
Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, while he was driving in an additional seat in the cockpit. The airplane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.
Emerson told police he was despondent over a buddy’s latest death, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier, and hadn’t slept in over 40 hours. He has said he believed he was dreaming at the time and that he was trying to wake himself up by grabbing two pink handles that would have activated the airplane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
He was charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. A state indictment in Oregon individually charged him with 83 counts of endangering another particular person and one depend of endangering an plane.
He beforehand pleaded not guilty to all the fees, but on Friday was anticipated to plead guilty to the federal charge and no-contest to the state charge, which carries the same legal impact as a guilty plea.
Emerson was launched from custody in December 2023 pending trial, with necessities that he endure mental health companies, keep off medicine and alcohol, and keep away from plane. In the meantime, he has based a nonprofit targeted on pilot mental health.
The averted catastrophe renewed consideration on cockpit security and the mental fitness of those allowed in them.
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Johnson reported from Seattle.
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