Off-duty US pilot who tried to crash plane midair will not serve prison time
The federal court ruled that the US pilot who tried to shut down the engines of a passenger plane during flight will not be sentenced to additional prison time.
At a hearing in Portland, Oregon, the judge sentenced Joseph Emerson to serve three years in prison and a period of supervised release.
“Pilots are not perfect. They are human,” Judge Amy Baggio said. “They are human beings, and all humans need help sometimes.”
Emerson was off duty at the time of the flight in October 2023 and blamed his behavior on a mental breakdown caused by hallucinogenic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty in September to a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew.
The former Alaska Airlines pilot pleaded no contest to 83 counts of endangering an aircraft and endangering another person. For these charges, he was sentenced to five years probation and 50 days in prison.
The deal with federal prosecutors allowed him to avoid a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars.
Emerson spoke before the sentence was announced and said he regretted the harm he had caused to society.
“I am not a victim. I am here as a direct result of my actions,” she told the court, according to the Associated Press. “I can say that this very tragic event has forced me to grow as a person.”
According to AP, after the judge announced his sentence, he hugged his lawyers and hugged his wife in tears.
The flight on October 22, 2023, was en route from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California, with 80 passengers on board. It was then diverted to Portland, Oregon.
One of the pilots named in the criminal complaint said he had to wrestle Emerson until he stopped resisting. The entire incident lasted about 90 seconds.
After being subdued, Emerson told flight attendants, “You need to handcuff me right now, or it’s going to be bad,” and then tried to reach for the emergency exit handle as the plane was descending.
A flight attendant told investigators they saw Emerson say, “I messed up,” and that he was “trying to kill everyone.”
Emerson maintained that the drug had made him oblivious to his actions at the time, that he was upset about the death of a friend, and that he did not intend to harm the passengers.
He added that he had not slept for nearly 40 hours before the flight and felt like he needed to “wake up.”
“I had no intention of shooting down a real plane,” Emerson, 46, said in an interview with CBS News. “I wanted to wake up.”
Emerson’s lawyers argued that prison time was not necessary because he had “already been sufficiently punished.”
He lost his flying license after his arrest and now works part-time as a pressure washer, according to The Oregonian newspaper.
He also paid $60,000 (£46,000) in compensation and is also visiting schools to become a substance abuse counsellor.
He and his wife also founded the group Clear Skies Ahead, which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues among pilots.
