Imagine someone trying to bring down a plane because he ate magic mushrooms.
That was the exact reason off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson gave in court after he was accused of attempting to disable a plane’s engine mid-flight.
The 44-year-old stunned the prosecutors after revealing that he had consumed ‘magic mushrooms’ approximately 48 hours prior to the incident on the plane from Washington state to San Francisco on Sunday, October 22.
Emerson told police he thought he was dreaming and believed pulling the handles of a fire extinguishing system – which cuts fuel to the aircraft’s engines – would cause him to “wake up,” state court documents read in part.
Emerson was riding in the cockpit in a jump seat, as is permitted for off-duty pilots, and a confrontation began when he reached for the fire controls, according to the documents.
As Emerson reached for the controls, one of the pilots “grabbed Emerson’s wrists and (the other pilot) reported that they wrestled with Emerson for a few seconds before Emerson stopped and said he was okay,” the documents state, adding “Emerson was not able to pull the handles all the way down before the pilots intervened.”
Emerson had experienced depression and the recent death of a friend, the documents say. He said he was having a nervous breakdown and told the flight crew he needed to be subdued, according to a separate federal criminal complaint.
Other reports alleged that Emerson was battling depression at the time of the incident.
Emerson has been charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced Tuesday. That charge comes on the heels of dozens of state charges filed in Oregon, including 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of endangering an aircraft, booking records show.
He pleaded not guilty to all state charges Tuesday.
