Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair is released without prison time

PORTLAND, Ore. — A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit will serve no additional prison time, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and supervised release for three years following a hearing in Portland, Ore. Federal prosecutors had asked for one year in prison, while his attorneys sought probation.

“Pilots are not perfect. They are human,” Baggio said. “They are people and all people need help sometimes.”

Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Wash., to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023 while riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

After his arrest, Emerson told police he was despondent over a friend’s recent death, had taken psychedelic mushrooms about two days earlier, and hadn’t slept in more than 40 hours. He has said he believed he was dreaming at the time and was trying to wake himself up by grabbing two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.

Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., was charged in federal court with interfering with a flight crew. A state indictment in Oregon separately charged him with 83 counts of endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft. He was released from custody pending trial in December 2023, with requirements that he undergo mental health services, stay off drugs and alcohol and keep away from aircraft.

In September he pleaded guilty to the federal count and no-contest to the state charges, which carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea.

A state court sentenced him to 50 days in jail, with credit for time served, plus five years of probation, 664 hours of community service — eight hours for each person he endangered — and more than $60,000 in restitution, nearly all of it to Alaska Air Group.

Half of his community service can be performed at the pilot health nonprofit Emerson founded after his arrest. He also must undergo assessments for drug and alcohol and mental health treatment, refrain from using any unprescribed drugs and keep at least 25 feet away from operable aircraft unless he has permission from his probation officer.

In their sentencing memo asking for one year in prison, federal prosecutors wrote: “It was only through the heroic actions of the flight crew, who were able to physically restrain the defendant and restore normal operations of the aircraft, that no lives were lost that day.”

However, a presentence report from federal probation officers recommended a sentence of time served with three years of supervised release and six months of home detention, according to the sentencing memo submitted by Emerson’s attorneys.

In that memo his attorneys requested probation with credit for time served over prison or home detention, arguing that the “robust” state prosecution “resulted in substantial punishment.”

In state court in September, Emerson said he was grateful to the flight crew for restraining him and saving his life, along with those of everyone else on board. He called it “the greatest gift I ever got,” even though he lost his career and wound up in jail, because it forced him to confront his mental health challenges and reliance on alcohol.

“This difficult journey has made me a better father, a better husband, a better member of my community,” he said.

The airline has said other members of the flight crew had not observed signs of impairment that would have barred Emerson from the cockpit.

The averted disaster renewed attention on cockpit safety and the mental fitness of those allowed in them.

Rush writes for the Associated Press.