Off-Duty Pilot Who Tried to Shut Down Engines Midflight Learns His Fate

A former pilot who turned off the engines of a passenger plane from the cockpit jump seat while high on magic mushrooms has been sentenced to time served. Ex-Alaska Airlines aviator Joseph Emerson had been on his way back to San Francisco from Washington after honoring a late pilot pal. Still feeling the effects of the psilocybin, he thought he needed to pull the engine’s fire extinguisher handles from the jump seat to wake up from a dream, the court heard. “It was only through the heroic actions of the flight crew, who were able to physically restrain the defendant and restore normal operations of the aircraft, that no lives were lost that day,” prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interference with flight crew members during the October 2023 incident. At the sentenc