Watch live: Alaska Airlines pilot arraigned on 83 counts of attempted murder after trying to shut down plane engine
Watch live as an off-duty pilot is accused of trying to disable a jetliner appears in an Oregon court, where he faces 83 counts of attempted murder.
Joseph David Emerson, 44, was arrested after the plane landed safely in Portland, Oregon on Sunday, 22 October, according to the local prosecutor’s office.
The pilot is accused of trying to shut down the engines of an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight.
The off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot claimed he took “magic mushrooms” about 48 hours before he tried to shut off the plane’s engines over the Pacific Northwest, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
Emerson said he was having a nervous breakdown and told the flight crew he needed to be apprehended.
