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An off-duty pilot who was in a bounce seat within the cockpit of an Alaska Airways flight on Sunday has been charged with greater than 80 counts of tried homicide after he tried to disrupt the engines, prompting the aircraft to divert to Portland, Ore., the authorities mentioned.
Flight 2059, operated by Horizon Airways, an Alaska Airways regional subsidiary, left Everett, Wash., round 5:23 p.m. and was headed to San Francisco when it reported “a reputable safety risk associated to an off-duty Alaska Airways pilot who was touring within the flight deck bounce seat,” Alaska Airways mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
“The bounce seat occupant unsuccessfully tried to disrupt the operation of the engines,” Alaska Airways mentioned within the assertion, including that the captain and first officer “rapidly responded, engine energy was not misplaced and the crew secured the plane with out incident.”
A pilot informed an air site visitors controller that the person had tried to chop the aircraft’s engines, based on an audio recording posted on LiveATC.web, which shares reside and archived recordings of air-traffic-control radio transmissions.
“We’ve obtained the man that attempted to close the engines down out of the cockpit,” the pilot mentioned, “and he doesn’t sound like he’s inflicting points within the again proper now. I believe he’s subdued.”
The pilot requested that regulation enforcement meet the aircraft upon touchdown.
The Port of Portland Police Division mentioned in an announcement that the flight crew “was capable of detain the topic and the flight landed safely at Portland Worldwide Airport simply earlier than 6:30 p.m.”
The person was taken into custody with out incident. The division recognized him as Joseph D. Emerson.
Based on the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Workplace, Mr. Emerson, 44, was booked into jail on Monday morning on greater than 80 costs of tried homicide, a felony; greater than 80 counts of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor; and endangering an plane, a felony.
There have been 4 crew members and 80 passengers on board the flight, a spokeswoman for Alaska Airways mentioned. It isn’t unusual for off-duty pilots to make use of cockpit bounce seats to commute to and from work.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration referred inquiries to the native authorities.
“All passengers on board have been capable of journey on a later flight,” Alaska Airways mentioned. “We’re grateful for the skilled dealing with of the scenario by the Horizon flight crew and admire our company’ calm and persistence all through this occasion.”
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