Alaska Airlines Embraer E175 Diverts After Cockpit Jumpseat Passenger Tries To Shut Down Engines

According to recent news, this off duty pilot has said to the investigators he has been using hallucinog substances (?). He was so dreaming awake that he allegedly also tried to open one of the read exits of the plane...
He was obviously...not well!

This is why we can't have nice things. Bye-bye jumpseating!

A link to atc comms by VAS Aviation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbU6E6VJx30

And another article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/alaska-airlines-flight-diverted.html?unlocked_article_code=1.40w.h61Z.OosZqjRhOQ9_&smid=url-share

What's scary is this guy was a current pilot. He could have done this on a flight where he was a pilot.

This reminds me of the Fed Ex pilot jump seating who almost killed the crew while flying. Amazingly no one died and the plane was safely landed.

I expect there'll be a policy change on visitors to the cockpits before the end of the day.

....he didn't need the jumpseat, he was already flying....

the problem was the guy was trying to self Medicate for mental health issues, the major downside for him was if he reported he was having mental issues he is immediately grounded and will probably never fly commercial again. can I understand the airlines, you bet.

Well, I guess the magic mushrooms might explain things.

Drugs aren't bad because they're illegal - drugs are illegal because they're bad.

his story is suspect... he planned and got approval for jump seat, he knew what switches to hit to crash plane... tells me he was planned sucide. Keep him off ALL planes forever. want to kill yourslef -- go do it but do not risk others.

Fire him, jail him, ban him for life from flying. So sick of mental health being everyone's excuse. And mushrooms coming to a state near you... already approved in several, so things will get more interesting everywhere. Spare me your micro dosing comments also. Grow up.

For reasons like this, an employee about to be fired must be immediately removed from company resources and all access.

It really has little to do with jump seats; more to do with FAA antiquated, not medical best-practices, mental health policies.
Pilot in question reports significant signs/symptoms of clinical depression with suicidal ideation. My guess is that he researched how mushroom hallucinogens have been(are) successfully being used to treat depression (many funded studies looking at hallucinogens).

He, probably, in part because of afore mentioned ineffective FAA policies rt mental health/psychoactive medications, tried self-medication to treat his depression. Time to talk about those policies folks, they are dangerous. Mood disorders are treatable, and folks in treatment are high functioning, adaptive to handling high stress situations.

Folks in high stress careers benefit from open honest mental health care including counseling and psychotherapeutics from experienced psychiatrists - not just a primary care doc prescribing psychoactive medications.

Here’s an update from a local news station with a link to the court document. https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/im-not-ok-moments-before-off-duty-pilot-allegedly-tried-to-bring-down-plane-revealed/

Riding Jumpseat will probably be way more restrictive for awhile after that.

thankfully he did what he did and was sucessfully subdued. he was scheduled to fly out of SFO later. He must be on a NEVER FLY list forever.

Too bad his friends/family couldn't have gotten him into a different hobby, such as model electric trains, instead of the "Crazy mushrooms". Good, quick way to end a great career. Maybe FAA needs a recommended hobby list?

Are they reporting here yet of all the in-air mishaps with pilots and first officers keeling over onboard; the diversions due to this? Other platforms are running these numbers daily and the number of dead or disabled pilots is mounting exponentially; thus more delayed and cancelled flights due to pilot shortages. FAA even lowered the safe window for troponin levels in pilots so more unhealthy ones can pass the flight physicals. It’s all because of the YKWs! Be safe up there!

If the jump seat pilot was successful, was there any way to restart the engines while at altitude?

Off-duty pilot accused of trying to crash Alaska Airlines jet cites breakdown, "Mr Emerson also referenced taking psychedelic mushrooms, the complaint says."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67207361

...developing story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/us/alaska-airlines-off-duty-pilot-arraignment.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5Ew.MsFO.tdhrT62sSKmr&smid=url-share

FAA Aeromedical stops people like me from working as pilots because of minor medical conditions. But, the FAA has no problem letting people like this fly unrestricted. Your government "at work."

Amazing that a mere little regional jet of today carries more passengers than any state-of-the-art mainline prop airliner of the 50s.

I joined the military in the early 80s. More senior officers and NCOs had many stories of drug abuse aboard ship, working on aircraft, even flying aircraft. Mandatory urinalysis pretty well eradicated drug use in the military. Now, blue states want to bring all those problems back. Drugs are poison and extremely insidious. Easily hidden and easily taken to impair oneself. The Legalize it crowd have gotten their way after decades and the blood is on their hands. I know two people in Ventura, CA who both lost sons to fentanyl. California is in real trouble due to soft on drug policies.

Looking at his FAA Airman Certificates, WHY would this individual RISK IT ALL to do such a stupid, pyschedelic Mushroom 'TRIP' while transiting to his very nice home? What exactly TRIGGERED this individual to go to this extent? Human factors are obviously in question here. Is this what other Alaska/Horizon pilots are pressured with - like 40-HOURS of no sleep to make the sched? Something is seriously wrong with this entire picture. And nothing reported in the MSM can be trusted.