44-year-old wanted to switch off engines during flight: guest pilot had swallowed mushrooms – almost a disaster

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It was a moment of fear in the air – and almost ended in catastrophe. On a scheduled flight in the US, the pilot Joseph E.* (44) traveling with him suddenly tried to switch off the engines in the cockpit. He was chatting with the pilots and suddenly tried to pull the two red levers that would activate the engines’ fire suppression system.

The captain and co-pilot were just able to stop him. Joseph E. now had to appear in court where he was charged with 83 attempted murders. Court documents show that he was not in the best mental condition, ‘Sky News’ reports.

Joseph E. told investigators that he had used psychedelic mushrooms for the first time before the flight. Moreover, he had been depressed for the past six months. At the time of the flight, he had not slept for more than 40 hours and had suffered a nervous breakdown. As he reached for the handles, he thought he was dreaming.

Alaska Airlines said its crew did not notice anything unusual about the man’s behavior during check-in and boarding.

“Put handcuffs on me, otherwise it will be bad.”

Even after Joseph E. was overwhelmed by the crew, he tried to cause damage. While he was already handcuffed, he tried to reach the emergency exit handle during the descent. However, a flight attendant was able to stop him. He had told this to the crew before. “You have to put the handcuffs on me right away or things will get bad.”

Airlines allow their pilots and flight attendants to travel on planes with so-called standby tickets, if a seat is available. When the plane is full, employees sometimes sit on a folding chair in the cockpit.

“We would like to have the police as soon as we land.”

The Embraer E-175 plane with 80 passengers on board was diverted after the incident and landed in Portland, Oregon, where the pilot was arrested.

The website Live ATC published a recording of the conversation between the Horizon Air pilot and air traffic controllers after Sunday’s incident. “The man who tried to turn off the engines is out of the cockpit,” the pilot says calmly. “It doesn’t sound like he’s causing any problems in the back of the plane right now.”

The pilot goes on to say that the man was overpowered. “By the way, yes, we’d like to have the police there as soon as we land.” (AFP/neo)

Source: Blick