An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to set off the fire suppression system on a company E175 in flight will face misdemeanor charges in Oregon for the widely publicized incident. He’s also likely to be released from custody to go home to California to await trial, according to the New York Times. A grand jury voted to drop the 83 counts of attempted murder against Capt. Joseph Emerson and proceed with the lesser charge of reckless endangerment against him. Emerson still faces a federal felony charge of endangering an aircraft, however.
Emerson was deadheading on the flight to San Francisco when he grabbed the handles. The captain and first officer were able to wrestle him away before fuel flow was interrupted and the fire extinguishers in the engines deployed. They made an otherwise uneventful emergency landing in Portland where Emerson was arrested and charged. He has since spoken publicly about the mental health issues and drug use that preceded the incident. It put a spotlight on pilot mental health issues and their reluctance to seek treatment because doing so would threaten their medical fitness. The indictment was announced the same day the FAA created a rulemaking committee to address mental health and medical fitness for pilots and air traffic controllers and a day before the NTSB holds a public meeting on the subject.
The important thing is for Emerson to get the help he needs to recover fully, both mentally and professionally. I wish him well.
👍👍👍
Agree.
He’s being charged with a misdemeanor, and I will not be surprised if he sues to get his job back.
Dropping the serious charge is an outrage.
WHAT !! But for the crew’s instant reaction, this story would read radically different. There would likely have been loss of life had he been successful. Dropping 83 counts of attempted murder is one thing; making it a misdemeanor is totally wrong and too far in the other direction. And conflating his mental health issues with the attempted action is also wrong. This guy needs some time in the crowbar hotel, loss of his tickets and THEN mental health help. Would anyone want to be on an airplane where he was the PIC after this? Not I!
Agreed, a single charge is not enough no matter how his attorneys try to spin this case.
I’m not going to comment on whether the charges are wrong, because I don’t know enough of the facts, but I wouldn’t have thought loss of life was a “likely” outcome if he’d pulled the handles. It would be messy, but assuming there wasn’t an all-out fight in the cockpit, a reset and relight would be straightforward following the Emergency checklist.
CAN there be a restart after Fire Handles pulled and Extinguishers activated? Some cannot.
Most airliner fire suppression is done with gas like freon or halon. Not a dry chemical powder. Once the gas flows through, I guess it could be restarted. I could be wrong.
No, an engine restart cannot be accomplished at the low altitude that the Embraer 175 was at when this event occurred. In addition, once the extinguishers are fully activated into the cores, it precludes any restarts. These facts were clearly stated by Alaska Air Lines management at the time of the incident. [ It is important to note that engine restarts are not possible at low altitudes in the Embraer 175 aircraft, as you mentioned. ]
That’s interesting – and also genuinely surprising. I have not flown the Embraer but I have ratings and experience on other turbine aircraft, and in all cases you could reset the shutoff and restart the engine. It’s not something you should practice – hitting the firewall shutoff while developing power could lead to a significant maintenance event (it stops not only the fuel but also hydraulic flow and some lubrication) but there’s still a high expectation of a restart.
He still facing a federal felony charge
Totally agree!
With Mr. Larry S., of course.
At risk of starting a polarised debate I’m going to align my sentiments with Raf Sierra. None of us really know when we are going to need mental health support.
My take is that NAA’s are taking mental health issues seriously. This all came to the fore after the German Wings tragedy a few years ago.
Personal experience – I had some work related stress/anxiety issues a few years ago. I didn’t feel fit to fly and declared it to my AME who (rightly) suspended my medical. With some appropriate help it settled down within maybe 3 months. But it took me nearly a year to get my Class 1 medical back which also involved a formal assessment with a U.K. CAA appointed psychiatrist. So for a PPL/CPL/instructor with a relatively low level mental health issue to get a medical back took close to a year. Set in that context I can quite understand how pilots whose livelihood depends on their medical seek to hide the problems (including perhaps from themselves).
My best pal is a psych professor and sees a lot of flight crew for evaluations. Making decisions about who is fit to fly and who isn’t – not easy.
I suspect, given the serious nature what happened (or what has been reported to have happened), the pilot involved in this incident will struggle to get their medical back in the short to medium term, possibly if ever.
A joke. I spent 39 years in the criminal justice system and law enforcement at all levels in addition to working for a legacy airline as a crew member and exercising my pilot certificates as well as owning 7 aircraft since 1976 and to me, a misdemeanor charge is tantamount to smoking in an airliner’s lav .
Yes, he still has to face the federal felonious charge of endangering an aircraft.
I am most certain that the on duty flight crew that day , when they wrestled him to the floor and attempted to put wire ties on him as he again attempted to open one of the cabin doors / exits did not feel that ” misdemeanor ” charges were to ensure out of all of this.
Definitely, he should avail himself constructively to a drug rehabilitation program and psychotherapy.
But no one except himself, ingested psychedelic mushrooms and possibly other illicit narcotics and he did so without any regard for the traveling public and those people endangered below his flight paths on aircraft he was PIC upon , aside from this specific incident flight in the jump seat.
Agreed.
“ But no one except himself, ingested psychedelic mushrooms and possibly other illicit narcotics and he did so without any regard for the traveling public”
Contraire, he ingested said mushrooms with regard to the traveling public. He was seeking relief from a mental problem.
The question is, why would one feel the need to seek relief without professional help.
We now have anecdotal evidence and some peer review studies that show that psychedelic mushrooms can be a great benefit to those with PTSD, alcoholism and other mental issues.
Problem is, the general public is still working with 1930s information in the form of “Reefer Madness”. That 1930s mentality has done more harm than any mushroom.
All you naysayers, are giving nothing but excuses for abhorrent behavior that is always seperate from the causal relationship of ” maybe …why it happened …oh I had a bad childhood, or I was raised in an orphanage…or I can’t divulge my alcoholism or drug addiction or I have deep black desires to crash my airliner into an apartment complex…to the AME because I will loose my job ..
Where the hell is the ” Accountability ” ???
All this non accountability phoniness does is prove that an individual in this malaise is only looking after themselves at any costs , including the loss of life to others.
Precisely!
A single mental health issue might have turned my head to say, well maybe the guy needs help…….BUT, illegal substance ingested knowingly turns my head to say to heck with this gent. NO ONE force-fed him illegal drugs, NO ONE held a gun to his head and told him to take a substance that he knew was illegal, and NO ONE in Alaska Airlines held him to the ground forcing him to take drugs.
Once you cross the line with an illegal substance you are finished and deserve serious jail time. He is a grown adult, he was a pilot and HE knew the consequences when he took that first hit.
Sorry, but throw the book at him and, if found guilty, make part of his sentence a mandatory referral to whatever medical help the court/it’s advisors see fit… and a final and global ‘no’ to ever piloting a commercial aircraft *ever* again.
Accountability doesn’t exist anymore, in America.
Shouldn’t surprise us that he is receiving downgraded charges.
Thanks sleepy joe.
The only thing we can do when flying commercial is to ask the flight crew, when you board the plane, “has anyone been taking magic mushrooms?”
What scares me more is the fact that we have a shortage of people across the board in aviation and the Fed’s want to lower standards for the new hires.
Expect more accidents in commercial aviation.
My sympathy for this guy ended when he tried to kill others. Let’s hope the Feds throw the book at him.
This is total BS……………..there is no crime and punishment anymore……….this is exactly why the world is in the state it is in. This guy, as we all do, have an opportunity to leave a positive mark on society. He blew his chance, he should be in prison for 20 years, but he wont……..and unless your head has been burried in the sand………this behavior of passengers and crews will continue. There is no reason NOT to, he will get NO JAIL TIME just watch. Im retired LE and this is why I left LE. No one has to take responsibility for their actions at all. Just disgusting.
Absolutely !!! -Frank
The homicidal GermanWings and Egypt Air pilots killed hundreds of innocent passages and crew members and it sounds like this guy came close.
What if in his psychotic or hallucinatory state he decided to deploy the crash axe on the flight crew instead of just shutting down the engines?
He willing took hallucinogenic drugs and THEN boarded a flight deck, an act of extreme recklessness. My sympathy ended when he didn’t get treatment for his clearly compromised mental health condition and depression. His flying career is rightfully over but the example needs to be made that this is completely unacceptable.
That’s a good point, Tom, that you made! What would have happened if this Alaska Airlines Captain had used a crash axe on the active flying flight crew members? –such as occurred on FedEx 705 with a jump seat Pilot FE.
It also led to life in prison for FedEx flight engineer Auburn Calloway, whose aim was to take over the plane and crash it.
If a guy shoots and kills ten people, some would argue that is evidence of a mental illness.
We don’t want to be punishing the mentally ill. Write him a ticket for a misdemeanor.
I share your concern for the safety of passengers and crew. Emerson’s actions were undeniably reckless and dangerous, and he must be held accountable for putting lives at risk. However, I also believe that mental health struggles should be considered as a contributing factor. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the need for preventative measures and increased awareness regarding mental health in aviation professionals. I hope Emerson receives the necessary support to recover fully and prevent any similar events from occurring again.
It’s not mental health when you willingly inject magic mushrooms.
Upon my first read of the title to the article, my first thought was someone inappropriately discharged a fire extinguisher bottle.
As opposed to someone trying to shut down both engines of an air liner mid flight.
I wonder if any of the passengers on this flight testified in front of the grand jury? Maybe sentencing for any offense for which he is convicted should include ten minutes in a locked room with a few of the passengers and crew he tried to include while indulging in his self-centered dramatic exit attempt.
With every living thing being encouraged to become a pilot, has anyone told them what the job is like?
While technically anyone can learn to fly today, not everyone is cut out mentally or emotionally to be a pilot. And no one seems to be stepping in to tell these folks that inconvenient truth.
Smiling next to your shiny RJ is not all the job entails. It’s sometimes wishing your 4-year old a happy birthday from a hotel in Grand Rapids. Sometimes it’s watching your wife become the man of the house 4 days a week and her getting tired of switching gears every week for 30 years. Sometimes you get disillusioned at the job you can’t start over ( again) from. And then some days you get to smile in the sunshine next to your shiny RJ.
But this is not a message many young pilots ever hear until they’ve invested themselves fully in their careers.
There’s a corollary to your position … maybe ALL pilots should have to get some training and subsequent testing on the rigors and responsibilities of being a PIC … at all levels of flying. It’s assumed that everyone understands these responsibilities BUT … do they really? There was recently a change to the private pilot training syllabus — a can’t remember what it was because I’m far beyond that … something was added? — but it was something that everyone assumed new pilot aspirants would understand. Someone decided it needed to be formally addressed.
And I wonder what people here would think if the driver of their children’s school bus had a mental health issue and took magic mushrooms and then started swerving all over the road with their children — unbelted — aboard. On board an airliner, you have not only the people IN the jet but the potentially harmed innocents on the ground below.
I was a part of an award ceremony where Julie Clark was describing the horrible way that her Father, Captain Ernest Clark, lost his life in an airliner along with the crew and all PAX when a similarly crazed individual shot him in 1964 when she was 15. 55 years later she was still emotional and impacted by the event so … the guy here needs the damn book thrown at him and the keys thrown away.
Ever heard of Auburn Calloway.
He tried to hijack a FedEx DC-10 going to LAX for a disciplinary board because he falsified his application (he was fired from Flying Tigers for cause). He’sin federal prison for a long time.
In 2023, he’d be walking the streets.
This guy can get all the mental illness help he needs – in jail.
“Tried to hijack” is putting it mildly. He beat the three pilots almost to death with hammers and it is only a miracle that they survived. One pilot resorted to extreme aerobatic maneuvers (140 deg roll) to try to upset Calloway. None of the pilots were ever able to regain their medicals. Two CONSECUTIVE federal life sentences.
Exactly, Gary! and Butch! FedEx FE received a life sentence for using a crash axe on the flight crew of FedEx 705 enroute to San Jose , California and according to records: It led to life in prison for ” FedEx Flight Engineer Auburn Calloway, whose aim was to take over the plane and crash it.”
“Pilot In Fire Extinguisher Incident” seems quite the down play on what happened.
Goodness Gracious! Seems like there commenters who have never had first hand experience of dealing with a person who is psychotic. Some of the comments remind me, literally, of the reasoning that was used to identify women as witches in the 1500’s and 1600’s. Trust the grand jury that was apprised of all the information.
The comments seem to reflect a diverse spectrum of emotional responses, encompassing concern for safety, anger at the perceived threat, disappointment in the perceived lack of accountability, and even empathy for the individual potentially experiencing mental health challenges. These complex emotions collectively highlight the public’s heightened vigilance regarding aviation safety and underscore the need for an understanding of potential contributing factors, including mental health considerations.
Inclusive c the “diverse spectrum of human responses” is the fact that as pilots we are trained to pre-flight aircraft and note squawks but fail to “pre-flight” our own personal wellness. What are the stats if a pilot (experiencing emotional difficulties as we all have at times) informs his supervisor of this that his medical won’t be revoked? How many airlines have wellness programs to pro-actively address potential issues? Studies show that just over 50% of businesses in the US even have wellness programs. Yes, this pilot really screwed up, but it sheds light on a concern that could no doubt re-appear.
Let’s not forget that the case is being prosecuted in “The People’s Republic of Oregon.” We should expect leniency beyond reason. No doubt the folks in charge there are of the ” poor fellow; it can’t be his fault” crowd.
Sadly why doesn’t matter in this instance. He has proven himself to be a potential danger to himself and others. He must be eliminated from the pool of acceptable candidates for further control of the public’s safety. That’s only reasonable. Regarding help; why doesn’t matter. He needs help. I don’t think any of us would argue that.
He committed a serious crime that would have made him a mass murderer. Had he used a firearm to do it, he’d be “under the jail” already. But because he’s of society’s upper echelon economically and he tried to use something unrelatable to the average person, he gets treated like he’s the victim. A good stiff prison sentence would do wonders towards increasing safety in as much as it would provide a clear example of undesirable consequences for this type of action. That should provide some deterrent towards future occurrences. We do live in a copy cat world these days.
Regarding personal experience with psychotic humans; I sadly have that. But I obviously survived. Obviously most don’t. The American mental health community has abandoned their duty. It shows itself in so many theatres of American life. When our society once again recognizes that there is still both right and wrong, we may return to a functional entity. Let’s hope it happens in time.
Enter the “Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee” (ARC), a group tasked with providing recommendations to the FAA that address the barriers preventing pilots and air traffic controllers (ATCs) from reporting and seeking mental health care.
Problem solved!
Guy gets well might mean he gets to go back on flight status.
Correct me if I am wrong, but in 45 years in the aviation industry I have never come across fire extinguishers that discharged INTO the engine, rather than the fire suppression zones.
Agree. That seems rather unlikely.
The level of hostility towards mentally ill persons is remarkable. Having this guy sit in jail for a long time will do exactly what for the rest of us? Do you think it will prevent the next pilot who is experiencing psychosis from doing something dangerous? By definition, a psychotic episode is one during which a person is out of touch with reality.
Do you think it will prevent the next deeply depressed pilot who is going to lose his job from seeking care and not engaging in self-treatment?
Or are you just mad that someone who broke a rule and created a dangerous situation is going to get help for his illness rather than forced to suffer for it?
Wanting people to suffer is not a useful goal. Wanting us all to be safer and for those of us with illness to suffer less is a useful goal.
No hostility on my part towards mentally ill folk.
Maybe the former pilot sits in jail for a short period of time to contemplate his actions. Then he sits in a mental institution for a longer period of time for more contemplation. He can contemplate his next career path.
Someone shooting one, two, three or more people might be an indication of a greater mental illness than someone who simply pulls two engine shut down handles.
Is not keeping the mentally ill away from the non mentally ill a safety measure of sorts? Or should they be free to roam the halls of society? Harming both themselves and others at the same time.
As I understand the facts, the pilot was suffering from depression that was caused or made worse by the death of a close friend. He also had not slept, or slept much, in the last ten days. He had self medicated with mushrooms, but this was two days prior so he was not under their influence. My impression is that he was something close to sleep walking when he tried to interfere with the crew.
While he shouldn’t just get a slap on the wrist, I don’t know that a criminal trial for 83 counts of attempted murder is appropriate (and he does still face federal charges).
This is all sad because from everything I’ve read he was well liked and respected.
What he should have done was ground himself (come up with some type of excuse if he didn’t want to be upfront about the issue) and worked through his problem and avoided this whole mess. Now he’s ruined his life and I’m certain will never again see the inside of a cockpit as a commercial pilot.
BTW, it’s never been disclosed why he was flying jumpseat. Was he flying to see a doctor or relocating to start flying flights?
My son was very good friends with Emily Selke who was killed in the German Air 9525 crash that was caused by the pilot killing himself and everyone on the plane. I might have sympathy with this guy if he just had a mental problem that led to his attempt to pull the fire handles but when he took illegal drugs all sympathy went out the window. He has proven he has poor decision making skills so he should never be allowed back in the cockpit and should probably be banned from all commercial airlines as a passenger.