Wife of ex-Alaska pilot is ‘in shock’ over averted disaster

By Claire Bush | Associated Press/Report for America

PORTLAND, Ore. — The wife of a former Alaska Airlines pilot who prosecutors say tried to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight while riding in the cockpit jump seat said Thursday she knew her husband was struggling with depression but that she was in a state of shock over his arrest.

“This is not my Joe,” she told reporters after attending her husband Joseph Emerson’s first appearance in federal court in Portland, Oregon.

“He never would’ve done that. He never would’ve knowingly done any of that,” she added, her voice quivering. “That is not the man that I married.”

Ethan Levi, a defense attorney for Emerson, said that Emerson was not suicidal or homicidal while on board the Horizon Air flight. “There was no intention to harm himself or other people,” he said.

Levi added that Emerson wanted to thank the flight crew for their “timely and heroic actions.”

State and federal prosecutors accused Emerson of trying to engage an emergency fire suppression system while riding in the cockpit jump seat as an off-duty pilot on Horizon Air flight 2059 from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Sunday. After a brief struggle with the pilots, he left the cockpit and was placed in wrist restraints in the back of the plane, according to court documents.

The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.

Emerson has pleaded not guilty to state charges of attempted murder. Federal prosecutors meanwhile charged Emerson with interfering with a flight crew, which can carry up to 20 years in prison.

In charging documents, police said Emerson told them he’d had a nervous breakdown, had been struggling with depression and hadn’t slept for 40 hours.

Emerson was cited in charging documents as saying a friend had recently passed away. His defense attorney Levi clarified Thursday that his friend, who was a best man at his wedding, actually passed away about six years ago.

Emerson also said he had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time about 48 hours earlier. The pilots and others who encountered Emerson said he did not appear intoxicated, according to court documents.

The averted disaster has renewed attention on the mental fitness of those allowed in the cockpit.

Emerson was to remain in custody.

Claire Rush is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.