FILE - A worker cleans a jet bridge at Paine Field in Everett, Wash., before passengers board an Alaska Airlines flight on March 4, 2019. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines owns Horizon Air. An off-duty pilot riding in the extra seat in the cockpit of a Horizon Air passenger jet on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, tried to shut down the engines in mid-flight and had to be subdued by the crew, according to a pilot flying the plane. PORTLAND, Ore.
A federal charge of interfering with a flight crew made public Tuesday said Emerson, who as an off-duty pilot was authorized to ride in the cockpit’s jump seat, made casual conversation with the captain and first officer when the plane was between Astoria, Oregon, and Portland, before trying to grab two red handles that would have activated the plane’s fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines.
The Associated Press has been unable to contact Emerson’s family or others who might speak on his behalf. Court records did not indicate if he has obtained a lawyer. Emerson walked calmly to the back of the plane after being told to leave the cockpit and told a flight attendant, “You need to cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad,” the affidavit said. Another flight attendant heard him saying, “I messed everything up” and"tried to kill everybody.”