When news broke in October 2023 that an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot was accused of trying to cut the engines of a plane midflight, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Portland International Airport, reactions came quickly.
What kind of lunatic would do such a thing, many wondered, endangering the lives of more than 80 people on board? When it was reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive and other sources that the accused, Joseph Emerson, told investigators that he had taken “magic mushrooms” 48 hours before the incident, the story only seemed to get stranger.
A new documentary, “The New York Times Presents: Lie To Fly,” looks into some of the larger issues raised by the Emerson case. Featuring interviews with Emerson, his wife, aviation and medical experts, and more, “Lie To Fly” explores how pilots are often reluctant to seek diagnoses and treatment for mental health issues, due to regulations that may prevent them from flying, and making a living.
Emerson’s case is, without doubt, a dramatic one. As an Alaska Airlines pilot, Emerson was able to hitch a ride in the cockpit jump seat on a Horizon Air flight originating in Everett, Washington, and heading toward San Francisco, California. Horizon is a regional carrier that is owned by Alaska Airlines.
But, as The Oregonian/OregonLive reported, halfway between Astoria and Portland, Emerson said, “I’m not OK,” according to a federal affidavit, and tried to shut off the plane’s engines.
Crew members were ultimately able to subdue Emerson, and pilots diverted the craft to land at Portland International Airport, where Port of Portland police took Emerson into custody.
Initially, Emerson faced 83 counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment in state court, and was held in Multnomah County’s downtown Portland jail.
As The Oregonian/OregonLive also reported, according to authorities, Emerson had said he hadn’t slept in two days, was depressed by the death of his best friend, and had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time two days prior to the flight.
In “Lie To Fly,” Emerson, who lives in Pleasant Hill, California, talks about growing up loving planes, and how when he was in junior high in Cheney, Washington, he made business cards with his name and the sentiment, soon to be a pilot, printed on them.
Emerson’s wife, Sarah Stretch, says that her husband was always very devoted to his job with Alaska Airlines, considered the “hometown airline” because its headquarters are in Seattle.
Emerson and others recall his close friendship with Scott Pinney, a fellow pilot who also served as the best man at Emerson and Stretch’s wedding. When Pinney died in 2018, Emerson was deeply shaken.
“There’s no right way to grieve,” Emerson says in the documentary, and he says he drank a lot of gin and tonics, which he admits wasn’t a healthy way to cope. His therapist raised the possibility of Emerson seeing a psychiatrist who could prescribe antidepressant medication, but Emerson said no, believing that if he took such medicine, he wouldn’t be able to fly an airplane.
As “Lie To Fly” explains, Emerson’s reluctance had to do with the Federal Aviation Administration’s policies, which require pilots to disclose medical diagnoses, including depression and anxiety. The FAA process to determine whether a pilot is fit to fly can be very lengthy, as the documentary says, which leads to some pilots opting not to seek treatment, rather than risk losing their medical clearance to fly.
The climax of the documentary comes as Emerson recalls joining a guys’ trip to rural Washington, in honor of Pinney. It was there he took psychedelic mushrooms, Emerson says. But instead of feeling better, Emerson says, the mushrooms made him fear that people were going to kill him, and he had a feeling of, “Am I alive?”
Emerson talks about taking the jump seat in the cockpit of the plane that was heading to San Francisco, and having recurring thoughts of, “Is this real?” Video footage from inside the plane reflects some of the aftermath of Emerson’s alleged attempt to cut the engines, as we hear a pilot say a “jump seater went nuts,” and witness moments before police take Emerson off the plane, when Emerson seems to be strangely calm, as if in a daze.
Stretch recalls arriving at the Multnomah County Justice Center, and being told her husband had been booked on 83 counts of attempted murder.
There are also images from the Multnomah County Courthouse during Emerson’s Oct. 24, 2023 arraignment, during which we hear the voice of Nathan Vasquez, who says he’s representing the district attorney’s office in the state of Oregon.
Video shows Emerson being led into the room, and he says when he saw his wife and met her eyes, “I realized it was real.”
“There were two days of testimony before the grand jury,” Emerson recalls. “I answered questions as best I could.”
In December, 2023, as The Oregonian/OregonLive reported, the grand jury tasked with reviewing the case reduced the charges facing Emerson, and issued an indictment that charged Emerson with 83 misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person, plus one count of first-degree endangering an aircraft, a minor felony.
Those charges are mentioned at the end of “Lie To Fly,” along with Emerson also being charged at the federal level with one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants.
Emerson has pleaded not guilty to all charges, as the documentary says, and he is expected to go to trial in the fall of 2024.
“The New York Times Presents: Lie To Fly,” which airs at 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23 on FX , and streams the following day on Hulu.
