Joseph Emerson 'Looked Dead in the Eyes': Passenger Recounts Horror Flight

A passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight on which an off-duty pilot attempted to kill the plane's engines has recalled how the suspect, Joseph Emerson, "looked dead in the eyes" as he was being escorted off the aircraft by police.

Emerson, 44, had been traveling on the flight deck between Everett, Washington, and San Francisco, California, on Sunday when he "unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines," the airline confirmed in a statement on Monday night.

He was detained at the back of the Horizon Air flight—a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines—by members of the crew, and the plane made a safe emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, where Emerson was arrested.

He has since been charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, the number of people on board, as well as other charges, including endangering an aircraft, booking records show.

"The flight attendant got on [the] loudspeaker and seemed very frazzled, and she said: 'We're having a situation, everyone's safe, but we're going to need to emergency land this plane,'" Aubrey Gavello, a real estate agent in San Francisco, told Portland broadcaster KATU News.

"We landed and then about 10 police officers, armed, came on, walked straight to the back of the plane where I was sitting and detained him and walked the gentleman off the plane," she added. "He looked dead in the eyes, almost."

Alex Wood, another passenger, told ABC News that the pilot had announced "a disturbance in the cockpit," but added: "It was very professional, handled very calmly, and we didn't really know what was going on until we landed."

Alaska Airlines said Emerson, of Pleasant Hill in northern California, had engaged a fire suppression system designed to cut fuel supply to the engines, each of which is individually controlled by a T-handle. "In this case, the quick reaction of our crew to reset the T-handles ensured engine power was not lost," it said.

An FBI affidavit, seen by Newsweek, said based on interviews with the plane's two pilots, that after engaging with them "in casual conversation," Emerson said "I'm not okay" and attempted to grab and pull two of the fire handles.

One of the pilots grabbed Emerson by the wrist while the other declared an inflight emergency. The first pilot told agents that after a physical struggle of around 30 seconds, Emerson settled down and left the cockpit when asked.

Flight attendants attested that they received a call from the cockpit stating that Emerson was "losing it," and after exiting, he told one: "You need to cuff me right now or it's going to be bad."

Flight attendants then placed Emerson in wrist restraints and seated him at the rear of the plane, the affidavit recounted. While the flight was descending to make an emergency landing, he tried to grab the handle of an emergency exit but was prevented from opening it by a flight attendant who placed her hands on top of his.

One flight attendant observed Emerson making statements such as "I messed everything up" and that "he tried to kill everybody."

After being arrested in Portland, Emerson told officers in an interview that he thought he was having a "nervous breakdown" and had not slept in 40 hours. He said he had pulled the emergency shut-offs because "I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up."

He told officers that he had not taken any medication but had become depressed six months ago.

"The officer and Emerson talked about the use of psychedelic mushrooms and Emerson said it was his first time taking mushrooms," the affidavit added.

Alaska Airlines said that Emerson had first joined the company as a first officer in 2001, before leaving for another airline which it later acquired. In 2019, he became a captain for the carrier. Alaska Airlines said Emerson had completed medical certifications throughout his career and "at no point were his certifications denied, suspended or revoked."

The FBI field office in Portland said in a statement that it "can assure the traveling public that there is no continuing threat related to this incident."

The passengers were later able to complete their journey with a new plane and crew, Alaska Airlines said.

Update 10/25/23, 3:53 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include details of an FBI affidavit.