It seems like an episode of “Terror at High Altitudes” but instead it is pure reality. In the United States three days ago an off-duty pilot attempted to turn off the engines of a plane in flight with 80 passengers on board and attempted, a few minutes later, to activate the emergency exit during descent. He was stopped by an assistant in the cabin who pounced on him to push him away from the handle that opens the door. It is perhaps one of the most disturbing details found in the six pages documenting the arrest of Joseph David Emerson, 44, who tried to crash an Embraer 175 on the Sunday afternoon of October 22.
A very long criminal record
Emerson – who faces 167 charges, including 83 for attempted murder – came so close to disaster: in fact, he only needed to rotate two handles, after pulling them, to deactivate the thrusters forever. Luckily it was neutralized and the pilots managed to divert the aircraft to Portland, where they landed without problems and then arrested the person responsible.
The man sat on the “jump seat”
Horizon Airlines flight AS2059 left at 4.34 am (Italian time) on the morning of October 23 from Everett, near Seattle, bound for San Francisco. Emerson was also in the cockpit, together with the commander and the first officer: the man had been authorized to sit in the “jump seat”, the jump seat installed immediately behind that of the pilots at the controls.
The «screening»
“Following requests from the FAA to authorize a passenger in the jump seat, our gate agent confirmed that Emerson was an off-duty pilot for Alaska Airlines,” explains a note from the airline group. At that point he “was authorized to join the flight as a passenger and was made to sit on the folding seat”. “All gate agents and flight attendants are trained to identify the signs and symptoms of distress,” explains Alaska Airlines. But Emerson had not aroused any suspicion.
“I am not well”
Commander and first officer, «Pilot 1» and «Pilot 2, say that their off-duty colleague did not show the wrong attitudes and that they discussed «aircraft models» and «weather». Halfway there” Emerson said he was “not feeling well.” Then he threw away his cap, got up and pulled the two handles used to extinguish the fire of the engines – red in color – which are located above the heads of the commander and the first officer.
The attempt to shut down the engines
By pulling those handles downwards, the pilot turned off the thrusters, no longer supplying kerosene or hydraulic and electrical power to the plane. The commander and first officer then grabbed Emerson and managed to prevent him from carrying out the even more dangerous move: by rotating those same handles some canisters would release the halon used to instantly put out a fire. At that point the engines could no longer be restarted, according to experts.
A minute and a half of terror
While one pilot blocked Emerson and the other raised the alarm, the two handles were returned to their initial position and the little fuel left in the pipes allowed the engines to be restarted fairly quickly. The physical fight, in the cabin, lasts “25-30 seconds” estimates “Pilot 1”, while “about 90 seconds” have passed since Emerson said he didn’t feel well when he was kicked out. The flight attendants are warned that the “guest” has become a danger and must be escorted out. Once accompanied through the armored door – which is immediately closed – Emerson tells the staff “put handcuffs on me immediately or it will get bad”. Which happens.
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