admin
The New York Times was informed by an Alaska Airlines pilot who is suspected of attempting to turn off the plane’s engines in midair that he was under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms two days prior to takeoff.
In an article that was published on Friday, 44-year-old Joseph Emerson told the Times that he had taken the mushrooms on a weekend trip to Washington to remember his best buddy who had passed away. On October 22, while riding back to California in the cockpit jump seat of a Horizon Air flight, he assumed he was dreaming.
Emerson admitted to investigators that he “had consumed’magic mushrooms’ approximately 48 hours prior” to the event, per an affidavit submitted by the prosecutors.
From a visiting room in the Portland, Oregon, county jail, where he is accused of 83 counts of attempted murder, Emerson told the Times, “I thought it would stop both engines, the plane would start to head towards a crash, and I would wake up.”
The pilot said that he had never used mushrooms before and that he only did so at the suggestion of a getaway participant.
Emerson claimed that ever since his friend passed away in 2018, he has struggled with chronic despair. That night, he said, he started to feel nervous before going to bed, as though his pals may harm him. “I was afraid of them,” he remarked. Emerson stated to the New York Times, “I started to have this feeling that this wasn’t real.”
Emerson claimed that in addition to his strained connection with his brother, he started to fear about the safety of his wife and kids. During that period, I had many horrific thoughts and wondered, “Am I dead? Is this bad? “, he exclaimed. “I am reliving that experience.”
It is doubtful that psilocybin would have remained in the pilot’s system 48 hours after he ingested the drug, sometimes known as “magic mushrooms,” according to a statement made to CNN last month by Johns Hopkins professor Matt Johnson, who researches psychedelics among other substances.
Johnson speculated that the combination of the residual effects of psilocybin, sleep deprivation, and pre-existing depression may have produced “a perfect storm” in which Emerson was going through behavioral changes or derealization, a condition in which one feels as though they are detached from reality and is in a dreamlike or cinematic state.
Emerson told the Times that he remained in a dreamy condition on the day of the flight, which originated in Everett, Washington. When a buddy sent him off at the airport, he contacted them to say he was “having a panic attack.”
Give love. I have to get home,” Emerson answered. “Do your breathing exercises,” his pal said, something Emerson claimed he heard through an earphone text-to-audio message.
Emerson recounted that in a moment of panic, he discarded the cockpit headset and shouted for assistance from the pilots. When his call went unanswered, he said he resorted to pulling the shut-off handles, doubting his own perceptions of reality.
Subsequently restrained by a flight attendant in the rear of the aircraft, Emerson mentioned he sent out several text messages, including one to his wife confessing, “I’ve made a big mistake.”
He shared with the New York Times that his disorientation persisted in a holding room at Portland’s airport. There, he stripped, involuntarily urinated on himself, and attempted to leap out of a window, hoping to snap out of the experience.
Emerson expressed to the Times his desire for openness, emphasizing that his actions were never meant to cause harm. He acknowledged his silent battle with ongoing depression, worried that it might end his flying career.
Reflecting on his future in aviation, Emerson said, “I don’t know if I’ll ever fly an airplane again. I really don’t. And I had a moment where that kind of became obvious. And I had to grieve that.”
His court hearing is set for November 30.
Efforts have been made by CNN to get a statement from Emerson’s lawyer.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings