Alaska Airlines planes (archive)
It is noteworthy that the pilot who was arrested for allegedly trying to shoot down an Alaska Airlines plane and who is accused of attempted murder 83 times, said that he was under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms during the accident.
“I destroyed everything and tried to kill everyone,” the disabled pilot said, according to a crew member.
The accident occurred on Sunday on a flight between Washington and California.
The airline confirmed that the pilot, who was declared not on duty on this flight, was traveling in the cockpit.
The person in question was sitting behind the captain and co-pilot.
It was announced that the pilot, Joseph David Emerson, 44, had tried “to no avail to destroy the plane’s engines.”
It is recorded that Emerson attempted to press a button that would cut off the flow of fuel while the engine was igniting.
There were 80 passengers on board the plane at the time of the accident.
The plane landed in Portland, Oregon, after the suspect was neutralized.
In the conversation between the air traffic control tower and the pilot, the pilot can be heard describing the incident as follows:
“We caught the guy who wanted to stop the engines. He’s in the back now and doesn’t seem to be causing any more problems from the sounds of it. “I think he’s been neutralized.”
According to police reports of the accident, the pilot quarreled with the crew for a while and tried to open the emergency exit during landing.
Emerson, who was arrested by police after landing, said he had not slept for 40 hours before the accident and had a nervous breakdown:
“I pulled the emergency shut-off levers because I thought I was dreaming and wanted to wake up.
“I wasn’t feeling well and the pilots didn’t seem to care what was happening. Everything seemed wrong.”
The mushroom claim is being investigated
“We are grateful for the crew’s professional response to the incident,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement. “Similarly, we are grateful that the passengers remained calm throughout the incident.”
The incident is being investigated by the FBI and Portland police.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office stated, in a statement to the BBC, that it will be investigated whether Emerson was under the influence of using mushrooms at the time of the accident.
The pilot will remain in a detention center pending investigation.
The US Federal Aviation Administration also announced that the accident was not related to current developments in the world.
In 2015, the pilot deliberately shot down a Lufthansa plane as it was passing over the French Alps. In that accident, which killed 150 people, it was found that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had been treated for depression in the past.