Former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut down engines in-flight shares his story

Autothrust Blue said:
checks watch Well that didn’t take very long.

Anyway, agreed it’s probably too soon for him to be doing stuff, since last I looked there are still criminal actions pending. But the system is horrifically broken here.
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I’m probably more sympathetic to him than a lot of people on here - but agreed that he’s still in the “everything you say can and will be used against you phase” and needs to STFU and save the press tour until after the criminal case and sentencing part is done.
 
JordanD said:
I see someone disagreeing with your viewpoint and then you immediately launching into personal attacks.
Two things can be true at once. It’s tragic that his mental health state got him to this point and it should have been easier for him to get help sooner before he got to that point. It’s also true that his actions put a lot of people in danger, could have killed many, and he needs to be held responsible and probably not touch an airplane again.
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I mean, pretty on brand for him.
 
The article labels them as a former Alaska Airlines pilot in the headline. I didn’t read the article, but isn’t that inaccurate?
 
What would some of you have him do?

It's hard to get face time and real life hands on experience on mental health advocacy when you're sitting in prison. So of course he's doing it now.
 
Inverted said:
No, he is a former Alaska Airlines pilot.
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Ah my bad. It was on a Horizon flight.

FL350

Thread 'QX2059 Jumpseater tries to shutdown engines'

PAE to SFO, diverted into PDX
At the 10:40 mark in the liveatc mark you can hear PDX approach ask for threat level, and crew says they got the guy who tried to shut engines down subdued in the back.

No idea what this must’ve been like, and my details could be wrong. Just piecing things together based on the information I have.

Good work to the crew getting the plane on the ground safely.

  • Wow
 
inigo88 said:
I’m probably more sympathetic to him than a lot of people on here - but agreed that he’s still in the “everything you say can and will be used against you phase” and needs to STFU and save the press tour until after the criminal case and sentencing part is done.
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Did I miss a plea? I haven't pulled his federal beef up in PACER recently but I'd be astonished if the case is actually taken to trial, for a bunch of reasons.

The grandstanding high end Multnomah County counts—attempted murder—were already dismissed last I looked.

(Damn! I love public records!)
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
What would some of you have him do?

It's hard to get face time and real life hands on experience on mental health advocacy when you're sitting in prison. So of course he's doing it now.
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As a non-airline pilot and a semi-frequent airline passenger I care about airline pilot mental health advocacy, and I appreciate he’s taking the opportunity to advance it.

Putting on the armchair quarterback amateur defense attorney hat for a moment - even though a cause I care about benefits from his recent actions, they aren’t necessarily in his best interest while he still faces criminal charges.

But he seems to be in the do what he thinks is right and let the chips fall where they may phase and I can appreciate the integrity of that.

Autothrust Blue said:
Did I miss a plea? I haven't pulled his federal beef up in PACER recently but I'd be astonished if the case is actually taken to trial, for a bunch of reasons.

The grandstanding high end Multnomah County counts—attempted murder—were already dismissed last I looked.

(Damn! I love public records!)
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I only saw in the article that the 83 attempted murder charges had been dropped just recently, but he still faced reckless endangerment among others. Honestly that’s a charge that probably more closely fits the crime.
 
JordanD said:
I see someone disagreeing with your viewpoint and then you immediately launching into personal attacks.
Two things can be true at once. It’s tragic that his mental health state got him to this point and it should have been easier for him to get help sooner before he got to that point. It’s also true that his actions put a lot of people in danger, could have killed many, and he needs to be held responsible and probably not touch an airplane again.
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Honest question:

Do you think this person could ever hold an FAA aviation medical again?
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
Honest question:

Do you think this person could ever hold an FAA aviation medical again?
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There have been pretty egregious cases of alcohol and other issue-related scenarios where people got their medical back. But honestly I don't know that he ever holds any kind of medical again.
 
Inverted said:
There have been pretty egregious cases of alcohol and other issue-related scenarios where people got their medical back. But honestly I don't know that he ever holds any kind of medical again.
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My point is that no one has to worry about this pilot ever flying again.

Let's stop overreacting about it.
 
inigo88 said:
As a non-airline pilot and a semi-frequent airline passenger I care about airline pilot mental health advocacy, and I appreciate he’s taking the opportunity to advance it.

Putting on the armchair quarterback amateur defense attorney hat for a moment - even though a cause I care about benefits from his recent actions, they aren’t necessarily in his best interest while he still faces criminal charges.

But he seems to be in the do what he thinks is right and let the chips fall where they may phase and I can appreciate the integrity of that.



I only saw in the article that the 83 attempted murder charges had been dropped just recently, but he still faced reckless endangerment among others. Honestly that’s a charge that probably more closely fits the crime.
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I've been dying to get Serious Trouble to cover this case. Ken ignores my emails. Too bad.
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
My point is that no one has to worry about this pilot ever flying again.

Let's stop overreacting about it.
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If he flew tomorrow I wouldn't be worried about it. There are pilots with alcohol issues that I worry about more than I ever would worry about Joe.
 
Inverted said:
If he flew tomorrow I wouldn't be worried about it. There are pilots with alcohol issues that I worry about more than I ever would worry about Joe.
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I'm not worried about him flying again either. I'm sure he does a great job and is a good person. In fact I'd be overjoyed, if he were ever to hold an FAA medical again. It would mean there would be a huge improvement at FAA aeromedical when it comes to pilot mental health issues.

I'm also convinced that FAA aeromedical will never change their draconian policies on mental health. So this will never be an issue.

I just flew with a pilot out for over 4 years because he fell off a bike and hit his head. What the FAA did to him was criminal.
 
BEEF SUPREME said:
I'm very happy he is speaking out about the draconian mental health policies that pilots have to live with. Policies that a friend who is an actual medical doctor described as "medieval".

Also my understanding is that he did not try and "take down a plane." He woke up from a dream reaching for the fire handles and then asked to be excused from the cockpit. He then over reacted to this action which is what got him into a lot of trouble.

Even the working group that was asked to advise the FAA on pilot mental health has advocated for major changes to pilot mental health practices. Practices that likely would have created a mental health environment for pilots at my place of employment where this incident never would have happened.
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You’re really white washing what happened. He didn’t wake up from a dream. He also tried to open the cabin door in flight.




It intensified as he took his jump seat inside the confined cockpit of the Alaska Airlines jet.

"There was a feeling of being trapped, like, 'Am I trapped in this airplane and now I'll never go home?'" Emerson told ABC News, in an interview near his home in California.


Emerson said the feeling increased – and with it, a belief that "this isn't real, I'm not actually going home … until I became completely convinced that none of this was real," Emerson said.

"That's kind of where I flung off my headset, and I was fully convinced this isn't real and I'm not going home," Emerson recalled. "And then, as the pilots didn't react to my completely abnormal behavior in a way that I thought would be consistent with reality, that is when I was like, this isn't real. I need to wake up."

The next 30 seconds would put 83 other lives in danger, end Joe's career, and potentially send him to prison for the rest of his life.

"At some point I thought maybe this isn't real, and maybe I can wake myself up by just jumping out, like that freefall feeling that you have," he said.

So Emerson grabbed another lever – this one operating the cabin door.

"I put my hand on the lever, I didn't operate the lever," he recalled, at which point a flight attendant stopped him.

"She put … her hand on mine again and with that human touch, I released. I think around that period is when I said, 'I don't understand what's real, I don't I don't understand what's real.'"

At that point, Emerson said he asked the flight attendant to handcuff him, and she immediately did so.

Skåning said:
Keep reading



He also missed a federal court date a few weeks ago. Not a good look.

katu.com

Alaska Airlines Pilot accused of attempting to cut flight engines waives court date

the off-duty alaska pilot accused of trying to shut down a plane full of passengers midflight -- was *not in federal court today.his legal team continues to wai
katu.com katu.com
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Questionable decision making at nearly every juncture.

SeanD said:
As someone who experimented with magic mushrooms quite a bit in my youth, I know exactly what he is talking about when referring to what is real and isn't. That feeling comes and goes frequently while peaking on the mushrooms or hours after. I had experienced it a few times. You will feel normal for awhile then suddenly you are in a cartoon world that feels like a dream. It also depends on the strength of the mushroom. Some just make you giggle at everything and some a full blown experiences. I cant image that happening in the confined space of a flight deck? That isn't going to be a good outcome. All in all though, I am not defending him for taking them. It is still an illegal drug that can have nasty results. I am just sharing that I have had similar experiences. If someone does take them, it should be in an environment where you don't have plans to go anywhere for 8 hours or so, like camping or a music festival etc.
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He claims he took the mushrooms the Friday prior to the incident, which happened Sunday. Doesn't really add up.
 
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SeanD said:
As someone who experimented with magic mushrooms quite a bit in my youth, I know exactly what he is talking about when referring to what is real and isn't. That feeling comes and goes frequently while peaking on the mushrooms or hours after. I had experienced it a few times. You will feel normal for awhile then suddenly you are in a cartoon world that feels like a dream. It also depends on the strength of the mushroom. Some just make you giggle at everything and some a full blown experiences. I cant image that happening in the confined space of a flight deck? That isn't going to be a good outcome. All in all though, I am not defending him for taking them. It is still an illegal drug that can have nasty results. I am just sharing that I have had similar experiences. If someone does take them, it should be in an environment where you don't have plans to go anywhere for 8 hours or so, like camping or a music festival etc.
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Not days later, unless I read it wrong he said he took them days earlier.
I have "known a guy" that in the 80's tried those, peyote and other stuff, never any affect a day, let alone a couple, later.
 
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