Crimetober Series - October 24 (The Plane Almost Went Down)

Day 24 of the Crimetober Series is about the day that Joseph David Emerson almost took down an entire plane, which occurred on October 24, 2023.

I apologize for the late release 



Sources

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/us/oregon-indictment-off-duty-pilot-engine-incident/index.html#:~:text=Off%2Dduty%20pilot%20Joseph%20D,a%20plane's%20engines%20mid%2Dflight.&text=Joseph%20Emerson%2C%20the%20Alaska%20Airlines,in%20an%20Oregon%20court%20Tuesday. 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-alaska-airlines-pilot-tried-cut-planes-engines-released-jail-rcna128680 
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/07/judge-says-ex-alaska-airlines-pilot-who-tried-to-cut-planes-engines-can-be-released-before-trial/ 
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/alaska-airlines-flight-diverted.html 
https://nypost.com/2024/08/24/world-news/ex-alaska-airlines-pilot-joseph-emerson-who-tried-to-down-flight-while-on-magic-mushrooms-trip-wants-to-fly-again/ 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome back to Nature Versus Narcissism. As always, I'm your host, Heather,
and today I'm rolling solo. Many of our longtime listeners
know that each Spooky season we like to throw a
bit of a curveball and share a series with you
that doesn't quite follow the main feed format, and this
year is no different. This year, we're aiming to bring
you at least one main Feed episode per day in October,

(00:39):
plus some Patreon episodes sprinkled throughout, even if that means
you're receiving them late because life is hectic and unpredictable
and shit happens. We apologize, but at least you'll get
an episode for each day of October. Because this year
we're bringing you a story about a crime that occurred
on or has a connection to, each day in October.
And today we're talking about October twenty fourth, So why

(01:02):
don't we get started. In today's episode, I want to
discuss the off duty commercial airline pilot who was charged
after attempting to shut down the engines of a passenger
plane in flight on October twenty fourth, twenty twenty three.
Forty four year old Joseph David Emerson of Pleasant Hill, California,
had been charged by criminal complaint with one count of

(01:24):
interfering with flight crew members and attendants, according to court
documents via the Justice dot org website. On October twenty second,
twenty twenty three, Port of Portland police officers responded to
a report of inbound aircraft that had diverted from its
route between Everett, Washington and San Francisco to Portland International

(01:45):
Airport due to an inflight disturbance. Police dispatch reported that
Emerson and off duty Alaska Airlines pilot seated in a
cockpit jump seat, had attempted to shut down the plane's
engines during flight. After a landing, Responding officers interviewed the
two pilots. The pilots recounted that approximately halfway between Astoria,

(02:06):
Oregon and Portland, after engaging with them in casual conversation,
Emerson attempted to grab and pull two red fire handles
that would have activated the plane's emergency fire suppression system
and cut off fuel to its engines. After a brief
struggle with the pilots, Emerson exited the cockpit. Flight attendants

(02:27):
placed Emerson in wrist restraints and seated him in the
rear of the aircraft. During the flight's descent, Emerson tried
to grab the handle of an emergency exit. A flight
attendant stopped him by placing her hands on top of
his After landing in Portland, Emerson was arrested without further
incident and booked into the Montnomah County Detention Center on

(02:47):
multiple state charges of attempted murder and reckless endangerment. The
case was investigated by the FBI and Port of Portland
Police Department. It is being prosecuted by the US Attorney's
Office for the District of Oregon. According to an OPB
article released on December seventh, twenty twenty three, by Conrad Wilson,

(03:09):
Joseph Emerson was released from jail pending trial. He was
arraigned on eighty three state misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering
another person and one felon account of endangering an aircraft.
The US Department of Justice has charged Emerson with one
federal count interference with flight crew members and attendants, according
to NBC News. As part of his release, Emerson was

(03:31):
required to post five thousand dollars of a fifty thousand
dollars bail in Moltnomah County, and as part of his
federal pre trial supervision, Emerson agreed that he would not
board any operable aircraft, even to return home from Oregon
to California. According to one of his attorneys, quote at
the time of the incident, mister Emerson did not and

(03:52):
could not form the mental state to commit a crime
end quote. He went on to say that Emerson is
not criminally responsible, but he does need help and there
needs to be a change in the airline industry. Court
documents indicated that on October twenty second, Emerson was catching
a ride home from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco in
the cockpit jumpsy of an Embreyer one seventy five jet

(04:15):
operated by Horizon Airlines. During the flight, Emerson removed headphones
from his ears and, according to court records, declared, quote,
I am not okay end quote, before proceeding to nearly
cut off the plane's fuel supply mid flight. Witnesses have
said that he was acting erratically and seemed confused about
his reality. Emerson was returning from a weekend gathering grieving

(04:39):
the fifth anniversary of the death of his closest friend.
Emerson later told police that he had untreated depression and
that some forty eight hours before the flight, he consumed
hallucinogenic mushrooms. His wife told reporters, quote, he deserves to
be home right now. I know it's impacted more than
just Joe. I understand there's a lot here. I hope

(05:00):
that they would also understand the condition that my husband
was in during that flight, and eventually that will all
come out end quote. In a New York Post interview
from August of twenty twenty four, Emerson told the series
of events from his point of view and from his recollection.
He stated that he felt as though he could break
out of his dream like trance by crashing the plane.

(05:23):
He said, quote, there was a feeling of being trapped,
like am I trapped in this airplane? And will I
ever go home? End quote. He was feeling helpless and
he relied on his knowledge of the plane to get
him back to the ground. He stated that he grabbed
the two red levers, thinking that this is what would
wake him up, but luckily the crew was able to intervene.

(05:45):
But that didn't stop him from behaving oddly on the
plane either. He drank directly out of the coffee pot
and then attempted to open the cabin door to jump
out of the plane. Although he was released from jail
in December of twenty twenty three, he still has pending
charges and could be heading to trial this fall in
twenty twenty four, but he does still have the possibility

(06:07):
that prosecutors will offer him a plea deal. Emerson's jail
physician ruled he suffered from a condition called hallucinogen persisting
perception disorder or HPPD, which can cause someone who uses
psychedelic mushrooms for the first time to suffer from persistent
visual hallucinations or perception issues for several days. Afterward. ABC

(06:29):
reported he ended the interview by saying, quote, at the
end of the day, I accept responsibility for the choices
that I made. They're my choices. What I hope through
the judicial processes is that the entirety of not just
thirty seconds of the event, but the entirety of my
experience is accounted for as society judges me on what happened,

(06:50):
and I will accept what the debt that society says
I owe. End quote. So, since this may go to
trial here maybe in the next month or so, if
if I see an update come through. I'll try to
update everybody, but if you know of anything else about
this case or you have comments about it, please feel
free to reach out Nature Versus narcissismat gmail dot com.

(07:11):
And until next time, stay inside, stay live, and don't
call the cops. Bye.