The hijack of an Alaska Airlines flight was foiled and all the passengers are safe. Joseph David Emerson is safely in custody, charged with 83 counts of attempted homicide. He also faces counts of reckless endangerment and endangering an aircraft. Authorities will be looking real close at this one because the successful breach of an airline cockpit is classified as a Level 4 risk, “the worst variety you possibly can face.”
Passengers all safe
Passengers hardly noticed the disturbance, nobody told them how close they came to death until they were all safely on the ground.
Despite all the post 9-11 security precautions, 44-year-old Joseph Emerson successfully breached the cockpit and nearly crashed the plane. He was a trusted insider who nobody suspected of anything until he tried to take control.
Every aircraft cockpit comes equipped with a “jump seat.” It’s intended for when official inspectors need to fly along and observe.
Off duty Alaska Airlines pilot attempted to shut off the engines of a plane with over 80 passengers mid-air.
The actual pilots were able to stop him and everyone landed safely…
"news" story on the video: https://t.co/Uat1Mj0Wt8#AlaskaAirline #AlaskaAirlines pic.twitter.com/oHIqXTQzHX
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) October 23, 2023
When not being used for that, it’s often used for other airline pilots “deadheading” to or from their own assignments. Ordinary passengers aren’t allowed the privilege. Usually it’s only extended to pilots with the same airline, occasionally a pilot for another, depending on circumstances.
In this case, it was a “pilot” riding jump seat on the San Francisco-bound flight with 83 passengers aboard. While formally an Alaska Airlines flight, it was operated by subsidiary Horizon Air from Everett, Washington. The incident happened on Sunday, October 22.
What reportedly happened is that the hijacker “tried to shut down the engines in midflight.” After fighting it out with the real pilot and co-pilot, he was “subdued” and the plane diverted to Portland, Oregon.
Met by police
It was the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon who identified the hijacker and detailed his pending charges. Alaska Airlines issued a statement on Monday acknowledging that their flight crew “reported a credible security threat related to an authorized occupant in the flight deck jump seat.”
There weren’t any weapons involved. Nothing to set off any alarm bells until he lunged for the controls. Initial reports claimed one of the passengers had breached the cockpit. That was incorrect.
“The jump seat occupant unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the operation of the engines.” He apparently got his hand on the throttle levers and pulled back hard. That would do it.
Credible threat forces Alaska Airlines flight to land in Portland; threat was from an AUTHORIZED occupant in the flight deck jump seat. pic.twitter.com/B3iY3T6snc
— Kelly Koopmans (@KellyKOMO4) October 23, 2023
“The Horizon Captain and First Officer quickly responded, engine power was not lost and the crew secured the aircraft without incident.” The first time the passengers noticed anything interesting was when the hijacker was dragged out of the cockpit and duct taped into a seat.
About then, the pilot radioed in to the tower that “we’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit. And he — doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issue in the back right now, and I think he’s subdued. Other than that, we want law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and parked.”
After the passengers were all off the plane, and it didn’t pop a wheelie like the one at JFK, the FAA, FBI and NTSB swooped in to start their separate investigations.
