Off-Duty Pilot Claimed He Took Psychedelic Mushrooms Before Trying To Shut Off Plane’s Engines Mid-Flight, Feds Allege

Joseph David Emerson, 44, was charged with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants, the Justice Department announced Tuesday, adding a federal charge to the dozens of state attempted murder charges Emerson is already facing.

Emerson spoke to police about the use of psychedelic mushrooms and indicated it “was his first time taking mushrooms,” according to an FBI affidavit filed Monday, though a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon told the Associated Press that this claim is under investigation.

Emerson also told police that he believed he experienced a “nervous breakdown” and had not slept in 40 hours, the affidavit said, later suggesting he believed he “thought I was dreaming” as he tried to pull the “emergency shut off handles.”

The plane’s two pilots told police that Emerson—who was seated in a cockpit jump seat behind them—engaged with them in “casual conversation” about midway through their flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, according to the Justice Department.

Emerson told the pilots he was “not OK” before he attempted to grab and pull two red fire handles that would have activated the plane’s emergency fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines, the affidavit said.

Emerson allegedly exited the cockpit after a “brief physical struggle” with the pilots before requesting flight attendants to “cuff me right now or it’s going to be bad,” and later attempted to grab the handle of an emergency exit during the plane’s descent, according to the affidavit.