The rogue pilot was arrested and charged with 83 counts of attempted murder
An Alaska Airlines flight was diverted to Portland, Oregon on Sunday after the pilots informed air traffic control of a security risk onboard.
The flight was headed from Everett, Washington to San Francisco, California when Joseph David Emerson, a 44-year-old off-duty pilot employed by the carrier, attempted to shut off the plane’s engines. Emerson was flying as a passenger in the cockpit’s jump seat. The flight’s two pilots were able to subdue the potential plane-downing hijacker and remove him from out of the cockpit.
A transcript of one of the flight’s pilots contacting air traffic control was published by CNBC. The pilot, after the incident, said, “We’ve got the guy who tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit and he doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issue in the back now. Other than that we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and parked.”
Once the plane landed in Portland, Joseph David Emerson was arrested by law enforcement, according to the Daily Beast. The 44-year-old off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot is now facing 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of reckless endangerment, and a count of endangering an aircraft. A possible motive has been reported on why the pilot would want to down a flight operated by his employer’s subsidiary, Horizon Air.
This wouldn’t be the first time an airline pilot has attempted to purposely crash a plane. Investigators believe that the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 intentionally crashed the flight in 2015, killing all 150 people onboard. Pilots occasionally commute on flights using the jump seats inside the cockpit. However, this recent incident might cause a shift in policy from carriers.
link: https://jalopnik.com/off-duty-alaska-airlines-pilot-tries-to-shut-off-engine-1850951141
even if he did do it, it wouldn't be that dangerous would it? a plane is designed to glide, it wouldn't just drop out of the sky with the engines off for a second.
Sure, but unless they can get the engines started back up in time it's unlikely to be a pretty landing unless there's a convenient runway within gliding distance.
It would be very dangerous, yes. I would not count it as "attempted murder" dangerous as yes, there are ways to restart the engines mid flight by windmilling. Depending on altitude the pilots will have time to restart the engines, or glide into an emergency landing.