AN off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot has been charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after he allegedly attempted to shut down the plane’s engine mid-air.
Shocking details have emerged of the supposed condition of the suspect during the flight.
Passengers were allegedly informed that Joseph David Emerson, 44 had a “mental breakdown” before the incident took place.
Emerson was handed an attempted murder charge for each person on board, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of endangering an aircraft, online records show.
Alaska Airlines flight 2059 was diverted to Portland, Oregon, on Sunday around 5:30 pm because of a “credible security” threat, as police escorted Emerson off the flight.
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“The jump seat occupant unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines,” the airline said.
The flight had taken off from Everett, Washington at 5:23 pm and was scheduled to fly to San Francisco, California before Portland air traffic controllers received a message from the crew.
“I'll just give you a heads-up. We've got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit," the pilot told Portland air traffic control, according to audio obtained by the Seattle Times.
"It doesn't seem like he's causing any issue at the back. I think he's subdued.”
Passengers were supposedly informed that Emerson had suffered a mental breakdown before he supposedly attempted to turn off the plane's engines.
Aubrey Gavello, who was on the flight, claimed that flight attendants informed fliers of this, she told ABC.
Gavello said: “After we did land and the gentleman was escorted off, the flight attendant got back on the speaker and said, plain and simple, 'He had a mental breakdown. We needed to get him off the plane immediately.
The passenger claimed that flight attendants did not immediately alert fliers to what was happening until the crew announced over the speaker that there was “an emergency situation and the plane needed to land immediately.”
Gavello added that they were later told there was a ‘medical emergency’ onboard.
They claimed that they also heard a flight attendant say to Emerson “we're going to be fine, it's OK, we'll get you off the plane.”
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Another passenger, Alex Wood, claimed the situation was calm on the plane and they were told there was a “disturbance in the cockpit,” according to ABC.
Wood said: “It was very professional, handled very calmly, and we didn't really know what was going on until we landed.”
They added that the police boarded the flight once it had landed and handcuffed the suspect while he left the plane.
Wood said he thought the suspect looked like an airline employee and he was “wearing a lanyard, a sweater.”
The suspect’s neighbors described him as a happy, playful dad, according to the DailMail.com.
Emerson lives in a $1.2 million home with his wife, Sarah Stretch, and his two young sons in Pleasant Hill, California.
Neighbor Karen Yee said: “It is just really shocking, disturbing news.
“They are excellent neighbors.
“He is a fantastic father. He plays with the kids all the time.
“He's very friendly. He's just a great guy."
