Air traffic audio and flight data help paint a broader picture of what happened after authorities say Joseph D. Emerson, an off-duty pilot riding in the cockpit of Horizon Air flight 2059, attempted to shut down the plane’s engines as it flew over Oregon on Sunday.
Pilots Alan Koziol and Emil Riemer said they were making small talk with Emerson as they flew the plane out of Everett, Washington, toward San Francisco. Over northwest Oregon, Emerson suddenly threw his headset across the cockpit and said “I’m not okay,” court records show.
Emerson then reached up and grabbed the red emergency fire handles marked “EXTG” to shut off fuel supply to the plane’s engines, according to court records.
Koziol grabbed Emerson’s wrist and wrestled him for about 30 seconds. Meanwhile, Riemer declared an inflight emergency, turned off autopilot and diverted the plane to Portland, according to court records.
It’s unclear what communications were made during and immediately after the incident, according to publicly available audio reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive. But that flight audio does capture a pilot explaining the situation at 6:11 p.m., some six minutes after the plane began turning back toward Portland.
“We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit and it doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issues in the back right now. I think he’s subdued,” a pilot reported. “Other than that, yeah, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and parked.”
That transmission appears to have occurred after Emerson left the cockpit and walked toward the back of the plane, according to an amended federal affidavit.
“I need you to cuff me before I do something wrong, it’s going to be bad,” Emerson told a flight attendant at the back of the plane, according to the affidavit. The flight attendant then placed flex cuffs on him.
As the plane continued descending into Portland, Emerson turned toward an emergency-exit door and tried grabbing the handle, according to the affidavit. A flight attendant stopped him by placing her hands on top of his, then continued talking to him to distract him from trying to reach for the exit handle again. The attendant secured him with a seat harness, the affidavit said.
The plane landed at 6:26 p.m. Sunday. Port of Portland police boarded the aircraft and arrested Emerson. He would later tell investigators he thought he was dreaming and wanted to wake up, and that he believed he was having a “nervous breakdown,” according to court records.
Emerson said he hadn’t slept for 40 hours and had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time two days before the flight. Police wrote that he didn’t appear intoxicated upon arrest, court records show.
Emerson was arraigned on Tuesday afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accused of 83 counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment in the case. He’s also charged in federal court with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
Emerson’s wife said in federal court Thursday that her husband “never would have knowingly” tried to harm himself or others on the plane.
— Catalina Gaitan, [email protected], and Mark Friesen, [email protected]
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