Airline employee charged with 83 counts of attempted murder

aj1980 · ‎12-05-2019

An off-duty pilot riding as a passenger in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight Sunday tried to seize control of the plane headed from Seattle to San Francisco, forcing the flight to divert to Portland, Oregon, according to the airline and a source familiar with the matter.

A pilot assigned to the flight told air traffic controllers a person riding in the cockpit of flight 2059 attempted to turn off the aircraft’s engines in flight. Pilots will occasionally ride a cockpit “jump seat” when traveling in an official capacity or commuting to another airport.

Joseph Emerson, 44, has been arrested by the Port of Portland Police Department and charged with 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, online booking records show.

I wonder if any passengers knew what was going on while it was happening?

On It · ‎03-15-2021

That is beyond frightening. Thank goodness he was not successful.

Goodie2shoes · ‎04-30-2012

Wow ! what is the world coming to ? Sad and very scary !

spumoni99 · ‎02-16-2019

My daughter is a pilot, she says that is all her coworkers are talking about today. Very scary, she often rides the jumpseat to travel when the plane is full.

It does make you wonder why he chose that time and not whe he was flying a plane but thank god he wasn't successful.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

So .... was he also trying to commit suicide?

Clearly he realized that HE also wouldn't get out alive if he was successful.

elated · ‎06-09-2010

So many disturbed people in our world. You just never know when and where something will happen.

Mindy D · ‎05-23-2010

Wow. I wonder what the back story on this is? Was this a terrorist activity, a suicide activity, a result of severe mental illness, a disgruntled worker activity, a medication-drug-alcohol reaction activity, or a sadistic mass murder activity?

There has to be a reason why he did this on a plane flown by other pilots and not on a plane he was flying.

Why isn't this a federal crime?

GinaV24 · ‎07-23-2010

Wow @aj1980 that's just frightening to even contemplate. We all take for granted that the pilots are not crazy!

I'm so glad that it all turned out OK.

spumoni99 · ‎02-16-2019

@aj1980 wrote:
An off-duty pilot riding as a passenger in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight Sunday tried to seize control of the plane headed from Seattle to San Francisco, forcing the flight to divert to Portland, Oregon, according to the airline and a source familiar with the matter.

A pilot assigned to the flight told air traffic controllers a person riding in the cockpit of flight 2059 attempted to turn off the aircraft’s engines in flight. Pilots will occasionally ride a cockpit “jump seat” when traveling in an official capacity or commuting to another airport.

Joseph Emerson, 44, has been arrested by the Port of Portland Police Department and charged with 83 felony counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of endangering an aircraft, online booking records show.

I wonder if thhe passengers knew what was going on while it was happening?

I think the passengers probably knew because for one thing he was put out of the cockpit and the flight was diverted to another airport. Who knows how much they knew at the time though. That would be scary.

spumoni99 · ‎02-16-2019

@Mindy D wrote:
Wow. I wonder what the back story on this is? Was this a terrorist activity, a suicide activity, a result of severe mental illness, a disgruntled worker activity, a medication-drug-alcohol reaction activity, or a sadistic mass murder activity?

There has to be a reason why he did this on a plane flown by other pilots and not on a plane he was flying.

Why isn't this a federal crime?

The article I read said the FBI is investigating.