An off-duty pilot has been accused of a serious crime after he allegedly tried to crash a passenger plane during a flight on a Sunday night.
The suspect was sitting in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight behind the captain and the first officer, according to an airline statement.
His name is Joseph David Emerson, and he’s 44 years old.
The flight was going from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, California, and there were 80 passengers on board.
But something scary happened.
The plane had to change its route to Portland, Oregon.
Luckily, the suspect was stopped without any trouble, according to officials.
Alaska Airlines explained that the off-duty pilot was traveling in a special seat in the cockpit when he tried to do something harmful to the plane’s engines.
The crew on the plane, known as Alaska Airlines Flight 2059, quickly reported this strange event to air traffic control.
One of the pilots can be heard on a recording of their conversation with air traffic control saying, “We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit, and he doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issue in the back right now.”
The pilot also asked for police to be there when the plane landed.
The flight was supposed to take off at 5:25 PM local time and arrive in San Francisco at 7:30 PM.
But the situation made the flight go to Portland, and it took off again from there and reached its destination at 7:18 PM.
A passenger named Aubrey Gavello said that none of the people on the plane knew that something was wrong with the flight until a flight attendant said that the plane needed to land right away because of a medical problem.
She heard the flight attendant telling the suspect that everything would be okay.
Another passenger said that the situation was handled very well, and the passengers didn’t even realize there was a problem.
Alaska Airlines said that all the passengers on board could take another flight later.
They thanked the Horizon flight crew for how they managed the situation and also praised the passengers for staying calm.
The police in the Port of Portland and the FBI are now looking into this incident, Alaska Airlines said.
The FBI has made it clear that there’s no more danger related to this event.
In addition to being charged with attempted murder, Mr. Emerson is also facing 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft.
He’s in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center while the investigation continues.
On Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration told US airlines that this incident is not” connected in any way shape, or form to current world events“.
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