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, the former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut down a midflight in 2023 while traveling off duty in the cockpit's jump seat, was sentenced Monday in federal court to time served and three years of supervised release.
Emerson, of Pleasant Hill, California, had to the single charge of interfering with a flight crew in a September plea deal.
Without the deal, Emerson had faced a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Instead, prosecutors recommended a year behind bars followed by three years of supervised release. Emerson asked for time served and probation.
Emerson told Autos News earlier this year he felt a sense of "all-out panic and fear" in the cockpit. He said he had been grieving the death of his best friend, leading him to turn to alcohol and the recreational drug known as "magic mushrooms," which he said he tried two days before the flight.
His attorneys said Emerson had hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, which made the effects of the psychedelic drug last for days instead of hours. U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio said the longer-lasting effects were a unique danger that was at the heart of the case.
"Pilots are not perfect," Baggio said before announcing her sentence. "They are human. There is no such thing as a perfect pilot. They are people and all people need help sometimes."
Emerson said in court that he saw mental health professionals while in custody and that he regretted the harm he caused.
Emerson had previously pleaded no contest to state charges of endangering an aircraft and 83 counts of endangering another person. For those charges, he was sentenced to five years of probation and 50 days in jail, but he was credited for time served.
Monday's sentence comes over two years after a chaotic scene erupted in the cockpit of a flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Horizon Air, which is affiliated with Alaska Airlines.
According to prosecutors in Oregon, Emerson tossed a pilot headset across the cockpit and said, "I'm not OK." He then pulled on the handles that cut fuel from the plane's engines in case of a fire, but he wasn't able to get the handles all the way down before the pilots grabbed him. After Emerson left the cockpit, the pilots landed at Portland International Airport, where he was taken into custody.
In the cockpit, he said he didn't realize the consequences of his actions.
"I mean, in the dream, in that dissociative state, I thought they were going to wake me up. It didn't wake me up, right? I was in reality. I know that now. You know, it's the most consequential three seconds of my life," Emerson told Autos News.
In the interview, Emerson said he takes full responsibility for what happened.
"I had no intention of crashing an actual airplane," the onetime airline captain said. "I wanted to wake up. I was convinced I wasn't going home to my wife and kids."
