An American pilot ate hallucinogenic mushrooms and tried to turn off the engines of a passenger plane (2 photos)

Air rowdies are reaching a new level.





In the United States, 44-year-old Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson was arrested for trying to pull two engine shutdown handles while under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Fortunately, the distraught pilot was not flying the plane. But he was in the cockpit of an Embraer 175 of Horizon Airlines (a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines) because U.S. regulations allow an outside pilot heading to work to fly in the cockpit. Emerson had a pleasant conversation with his colleagues about the weather and his favorite airplanes until he became overwhelmed. Halfway through the journey, he threw the headphones with force and, screaming, rushed to the fuel cut-off handles. The pilots reacted quickly and Emerson did not have time to lower the levers all the way, which would have led to tragedy.



Joseph Emerson

The inadequate pilot was thrown out of the cockpit, but he continued the brawl in the cabin, trying to open the emergency exit. Fortunately, the flight attendants also reacted quickly and did not allow him to accomplish his plan. But the plane still had to be made an emergency landing in Portland.

As Emerson later said, he had been suffering from depression for six months, and his friend had recently died. To cope with psychological problems, he decided to resort to psilocybin mushrooms for the first time in his life. In his defense, he stated that before the flight he had not slept for more than 40 hours, and during the incident he believed that he was sleeping and pulled the levers to wake up.

Joseph Emerson is accused of attempted murder of 84 people and interfering with the work of an aircraft crew. It is not yet known what punishment the former pilot will face. But it is obvious that the period will be quite long.