Horizon Air E175 at Paine Field [AirlineGeeks/Katie Zera]
Key Takeaways:
Former Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson received court supervision and probation, avoiding prison, for attempting to shut off an airliner's engines mid-flight in October 2023, a sentence deemed lenient by some passengers.
Emerson claimed he was in a dreamlike state after taking psychedelic mushrooms, self-medicating for depression, and had avoided professional help due to fears of losing his pilot certification.
The incident prompted Emerson to start a non-profit encouraging pilots to seek mental health treatment, and led the FAA and NTSB to form committees and hold summits addressing barriers to mental health care in aviation.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
