PORTLAND, Ore. In a shocking incident, an off-duty pilot aboard a Horizon Air passenger jet attempted to shut down the engines midflight, forcing the crew to subdue him. The incident occurred during a San Francisco-bound flight that had to divert to Portland, Oregon. The off-duty pilot, identified as Joseph David Emerson, 44, now faces numerous charges, including attempted murder and reckless endangerment.
The flight, operated by Horizon Air, a regional carrier under Alaska Airlines, was ultimately secured by the captain and co-pilot, ensuring no loss of engine power. Remarkably, no weapons were involved in the incident. The FBI is investigating the matter.
This rare occurrence took place on an Embraer 175 aircraft carrying 80 passengers and four crew members. After landing in Portland, the passengers continued their journey to San Francisco on a later flight. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the off-duty pilot tried to disable the engines by deploying the engine fire-suppression system.
Notably, this kind of event is extremely uncommon in the aviation industry, and it prompts a review of procedures and safeguards. Jump seats, which allow off-duty pilots to occupy cockpit seats for positioning purposes, are a standard practice in the industry. Such individuals require airline approval, and access can be denied by the flight’s working pilots.
While these incidents are rare, they underscore the importance of having a third pilot on board for complex situations. In this case, the crew successfully prevented the off-duty pilot from taking control of the flight.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
