An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot caused a disturbance after he tried shutting off an airplane's engines during mid-flight.
Because of his actions, the passenger aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on Sunday, Oct. 22.
Here are other things that happened before and after the off-duty pilot tried to turn off the airplane's engines.
Off-Duty Alaska Airlines Tries Turning Off-Engines Mid-Flight!
According to NPR's latest report, an off-duty pilot disrupted a flight that was operated by Horizon Airlines. Before the incident, the airplane took off from Everett, Washington, and was supposed to land in San Francisco.
The Embraer 175 jet peacefully took off at around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. However, little did the airlines know that the flight was carrying an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who would commit a very dangerous act.
ABC News reported that the pilot tried shutting off engines by pulling the fire extinguisher handles on the airplane. Airlines officials said that the suspect has been identified as David Emerson.
They added that the airplane captain was traveling to San Francisco because he was scheduled to be on a flight crew of a 737 flight.
Before the incident, Emerson was sitting in the flight deck jump seat, meaning he was located in the cockpit. To their surprise, David decided to disrupt the operation of the engines by trying to pull the fire extinguisher handles.
Luckily, his attempt failed. After noticing the issue, the flight crew subdued the man and handcuffed him to a seat.
"I'll just give you a heads-up. We've got the guy who tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit. It doesn't seem like he's causing any issues at the back. I think he's subdued," said one of the Embraer 175 jet pilots.
Suspect Pilot Now Faces Over 80 Counts of Attempted Murder
The affected flight, which was carrying 80 passengers and four crew members, changed its landing location to Portland because of the incident.
Alaska Airlines officials clarified that no one was injured or hurt by the off-duty pilot's actions. The flight company added that all the passengers were able to travel to San Francisco on another flight.
"We are grateful for the professional handling of the situation by the Horizon flight crew and appreciate our guests' calm and patience throughout this event," said Alaska Airlines.
But, because David's actions were life-threatening, authorities decided to charge him with 83 counts of attempted murder. Aside from this, he is also facing 83 counts of reckless endangerment, one felony count of endangering an aircraft, and a misdemeanor.
