‘High on mushrooms’: Cockpit audio captures Alaska Airlines pilot’s mid-air attempt to shut down engines | Watch

A dramatic cockpit audio recording has surfaced documenting the tense moments when former Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson attempted to shut down the engines of a packed Horizon Air flight in October 2023.

Emerson, who was off-duty and riding in the cockpit jump seat, allegedly tried to pull the fire-suppression handles mid-flight while the Embraer E75 jet was en route from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco with 84 people on board.

According to investigators, Emerson was severely sleep-deprived, and under the lingering influence of psychedelic mushrooms he had taken two days earlier. The handles he reached for were designed to cut off fuel to the engines in case of fire.

The cockpit audio captures the seconds leading up to the struggle. A pilot can be heard asking, “What’s that? What’s wrong? You wanna be home?” Moments later, sounds of a scuffle erupt, followed by a frantic radio call: “Horizon, we need to make an emergency landing… we got a jump seater just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland now.”
Emerson was restrained by the pilot and co-pilot as the crew initiated an emergency diversion to Portland. Air traffic control audio shows the crew assessing the situation, reporting that the threat had escalated to a Level 4 before Emerson was subdued and handcuffed in a rear jump seat.

A video later showed local prosecutors escorting Emerson off the aircraft in handcuffs after the plane landed safely. In statements to police, he said he had not slept in 40 hours, believed he was “dreaming,” and thought pulling the handles would “wake me up.”