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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Edward Helmore

Pilot who tried to shut off engines says he was hallucinating on mushrooms

Joseph Emerson, 44, an Alaska Airlines pilot who is accused of trying to disable the engines of a jet, appears in Multnomah county court in Portland, Oregon, last month.
Joseph Emerson, 44, an Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to disable a jet’s engines, appears in Multnomah county court in Portland, Oregon, last month. Photograph: Dave Killen/Reuters

The pilot who attempted to shut fuel off to the engines of an Alaska Airlines jet last month after ingesting magic mushrooms has said that he had no intention of hurting anyone – but was trying to come out of a hallucinogenic state.

“I thought it would stop both engines, the plane would start to head towards a crash, and I would wake up,” Joseph Emerson, 44, told the New York Times in a jailhouse interview published on Friday.

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