An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot faces 83 counts of attempted murder after authorities say he tried to turn off the engines mid-flight, reports NBC News.
The incident happened Sunday on a flight out of Everett, Washington, bound for San Francisco. The airline says the off-duty pilot was sitting in the “jump seat” of the cockpit, as is common when pilots are commuting from one airport to another, per CNN.
At some point, the man identified as 44-year-old Joseph Emerson “unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines,” said the airline. ABC News reports he did so by “grabbing the fire extinguisher handles on the engines.”
The captain and first officer subdued the man and handcuffed him to a seat, according to the airline and a federal official who spoke to ABC, as captured in audio from the plane to air-traffic controllers.
“We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit, and he doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issues in the back right now,” the pilot said. “I think he’s subdued. Other than that, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and are parked.”
Flight 2059 had 80 passengers and four crew members, and Emerson is charged with 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of endangering an aircraft, per booking records.
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