Pilot Goes "BESERK," CUTS FUEL AT 31,000 FEET
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph David Emerson was catching a ride from Everett Washington, to San Francisco, California. The off-duty pilot was seated in the cockpit jump seat of Horizon Air Flight 2059, having casual conversation with the pilot and co-pilot. Without warning, Emerson attempted to shut off the engine, midflight.
Emerson reportedly tried "to grab and pull two red fire handles" that would have activated the plane's emergency fire suppression system and cut off fuel to its engines. Emerson was subdued and the flight diverted to Portland Oregon.
Eighty-four people, crew and passengers were aboard the plane.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Ed Booth - Board Certified Aviation Attorney and partner at Marks Gray Law Firm, Fmr. Prosecutor, Airline Transport Rated Pilot, profession at Jacksonville University School of Aviation
- Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), www.panthermitigation.com, Twitter: @TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology"
- Captain Ross Sagun - Fmr. commercial airline pilot and air safety representative for over 40 years, investigation, Aviation expert and consultant for Sagun Aviation Consulting, www.sagunaviationconsulting.com
- Mary Schiavo - Former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation, Aviation attorney and CNN Aviation analyst, Author: “Flying Blind, Flying Safe”, Maryschiavo.com
- Matthias Gafni - Investigative reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfchronicle.com, Twitter: @mgafni
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Crime stories with Nancy Grace, worst nightmare. |
| 0:15.8 | You have no control, you're trapped, you're actually belted in, you can't move and you |
| 0:24.6 | find out there is a life or death match fight going on in the cockpit of the plane. You're |
| 0:34.1 | just a passenger, you can't do a thing, but it's not really a nightmare. It happened. |
| 0:41.3 | It happened where a pilot goes into the cockpit and tries to bring the plane down. I'm Nancy |
| 0:51.0 | Grace, this is Crime stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime stories and on |
| 0:55.9 | Series XM 1111, what happened? Listen, okay, let's get your heads up. We've got to try |
| 1:02.2 | to shut down the cockpit. It was supposed to be a typical Sunday night flight from |
| 1:07.4 | Everett, Washington to San Francisco. It was anything but mid flight, the captain made |
| 1:12.2 | an announcement to passengers that there was a disturbance in the cockpit. A few minutes |
| 1:16.2 | later, a flight attendant announced over the loudspeaker that the plane was in an emergency |
| 1:20.2 | situation and needed to land immediately. Another 15 minutes passed and the flight attendant |
| 1:24.9 | announced there was a medical emergency. An emergency, not necessarily a medical emergency. |
| 1:30.2 | Everyone sits there glued to their seats wondering what's happening. There was, as I said, |
| 1:35.6 | a life or death battle going on in that cockpit with 83 souls at risk. Again, thank you |
| 1:43.9 | for being with us here at Crime stories and what a crime this is joining me and all star |
| 1:50.1 | panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first, I want to go out to Matthias |
| 1:55.5 | Gaffney, investigative reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthias, thank you |
| 2:00.1 | for being with us. What exactly happened? Let me start with a narrow question in the cockpit. |
| 2:08.4 | Who is 44-year-old Joseph Emerson? So he's a young father and he's a pilot that's relatively |
| 2:17.7 | new to Alaska Airlines. And the day of this incident, he's off duty and he's flying in |
| 2:24.9 | what they call the jump seat of the cockpit, which is basically like a third seat right |
... |
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