A pilot who had faced 83 counts of attempted murder has spoken out publicly for the first time after he was arrested for attempting to crash a plane.
On October 22, 2023, pilot Joseph David Emerson - who was off-duty at the time - took off on Alaska Airlines Flight 2059 as a passenger. The flight was operated by Horizon Air and was traveling from Paine Field in Everett, Washington to San Francisco International Airport.
Also on board were 79 passengers and four members of crew.
As reported by PEOPLE, Emerson had been traveling in the cockpit's jump seat when he suffered a severe mental breakdown.
According to police documents, he threw his headset across the cockpit and stated that he was "not okay". He then attempted to pull the fire extinguisher handles, which would have shut down the plane's engines.
Crew members were able to restrain Emerson before any damage or serious harm was caused.
After announcing an in-flight emergency, the plane was diverted to Portland.
Emerson was restrained for the duration of the flight, and was later arrested and charged with 83 counts of attempted murder. These charges were later dropped, but he is still facing a number of federal and state charges, including 83 counts of reckless endangerment.
It was also reported at the time that Emerson had admitted to taking psychedelic mushrooms two days before the flight with some friends. He says it was the first time he had done so and that he was struggling after the loss of his best friend several years prior.
In December, a judge ruled that Emerson could be released on bail after he pleaded not guilty - under the ruling that he could not come within 30 feet of an aircraft.
Fortunately, the flight crew acted quickly and managed to subdue Emerson before he could cause serious harm. They declared an inflight emergency and diverted the flight to Portland. Emerson was moved to the back of the plane, preventing any further attempts to sabotage the aircraft.
Now, in an interview with ABC News, he has spoken out.
Recalling how he felt in the cockpit, Emerson said: "There was a feeling of being trapped, like, 'Am I trapped in this airplane and now I'll never go home?'"
He says that all he wanted to do was return home to his family, but he started to become convinced that he never could be.
After receiving a text message from a friend telling him to do some breathing exercises in order to calm down, Emerson said: "That's kind of where I flung off my headset, and I was fully convinced this isn't real and I'm not going home."
He then claimed that the other pilots didn't react to his "completely abnormal behavior" in a way that he believed was "consistent with reality".
"That is when I was like, this isn't real. I need to wake up," he said.
Recalling his life-threatening actions, he said: "There are two red handles in front of my face. And thinking that I was going to wake up, thinking this is my way to get out of this non-real reality, I reached up and I grabbed them, and I pulled the levers."
He said he knew what the levers would have done "in a real airplane", but was just trying to "wake up".
Emerson adds that the physical touch of the crew grabbing his hands is what snapped him out of his "dream-like" state.
"It's 30 seconds of my life that I wish I could change, and I can't," Emerson added.
During his 45 days in jail, Emerson says he was diagnosed with hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD). This is when an individual uses psychedelic mushrooms for the first time but continues to suffer from visual hallucinations or perception issues.
It can last for several days.
Emerson's defense has argued that there was no criminal intent in his actions, stating in a statement to ABC: "Simply put: Captain Emerson thought he was in a dream; his actions were taken in a single-minded effort to wake up from that dream and return home to his family."
He and his wife, Sarah Emerson, have since launched a nonprofit called Clear Skies Ahead, which is aimed that raising funds and awareness of pilot mental health.
Due to FAA regulations and the strict requirements pilots must follow in order to be allowed to fly, Joseph Emerson believes that many pilots stay quiet and fail to speak out about their own mental health issues.
He said: "Right now, if you raise your hand, not in every case, but there's a perception out there that if you raise your hand and say something's not right, there's a very real possibility that you don't fly again."
His story is also the subject of the August 2024 documentary Lie to Fly.