An off-duty pilot has been charged with 83 counts of attempted murder — after he allegedly tried to crash a San Francisco-bound Alaska Airlines flight by shutting off the engines.
The pilot, identified by police as Joseph David Emerson, 44, was sitting in the cockpit’s jump seat — located behind the captain and the first officer — when he tried to activate the jet’s fire suppression system midflight, the airline said in a statement.
If he was successful, he would have cut off the flow of fuel to the engines.
“When pulled, a valve in the wing closes to shut off fuel to the engine. After they are pulled, some residual fuel remains in the line, and the quick reaction of our crew to reset the handles restored fuel flow and prevented fuel starvation,” an Alaska Airlines spokesperson explained.
The flight’s captain and first officer managed to subdue the suspect Emerson, who was off-duty but authorized to sit in the cockpit as an employee of the airline.
Flight 2059 was being operated by Horizon Air, a regional carrier owned by Alaska Airlines. It took off from Everett, Wash. shortly before 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
More here: Who is pilot Joseph Emerson? Pleasant Hill [CA] neighbors say he’s ‘very friendly.’
Emerson is currently in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center in Portland with no bail, jail inmate records show. He was booked into jail on 83 counts of first-degree attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of endangering an aircraft.
Charges were referred to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office for review. He is slated to be arraigned in court at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday.
The Port of Portland Police Department, FBI, TSA, FAA, and Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the incident.
I’ll be very curious to hear if a motive is ever released after the investigation.