A pilot accused of trying to shut off the engines of a plane midflight said he was affected by psychedelic mushrooms he’d taken two days before the flight.
An Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to shut off the engines of a plane midflight told the New York Times he was affected by psychedelic mushrooms he’d taken two days before the flight.
Joseph Emerson, 44, told the Times in a story published Friday he took the mushrooms during a weekend getaway in Washington to commemorate the death of his best friend. He thought he was dreaming while commuting back to California in the cockpit jump seat of a Horizon Air flight on Oct. 22.
According to an affidavit filed by prosecutors, Emerson told investigators he “had consumed ‘magic mushrooms’ approximately 48 hours prior” to the incident.
“I thought it would stop both engines, the plane would start to head towards a crash, and I would wake up,” Emerson told the Times from a visitation room at the county jail in Portland, Oregon, where he is charged with 83 counts of attempted murder.
The pilot said he never took mushrooms before and ingested them at the insistence of an attendee of the getaway.
Emerson said he has dealt with persistent depression since the 2018 death of his friend.
