By Phil Helsel - NBC News
The Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to turn off a plane's engines in mid-flight in October after consuming psychedelic mushrooms thought he was dreaming and wondered if he was in hell, the man said in an interview Saturday.
Joseph Emerson, 44, told The New York Times from a jail in Portland, Oregon, that when he consumed the mushrooms — which he had never tried before Oct. 20 — around a campfire two days before the incident, he began revisiting events from his past.
"I was thinking about a lot of traumatic things and wondering, 'Am I dead? Am I in hell?'" he said. "I'm reliving that trauma."
On Oct. 22, Emerson was sitting in a cockpit seat on an Alaska Airlines flight when he allegedly tried to shut down the plane's engines by activating a fire suppression system.
Emerson told a Portland police officer that he believed he was dreaming and was looking to wake up, according to court documents, which the man also told the Times.
[Pilot confesses he used hallucinogens before trying to shut down plane engines]
"I thought when both engines stopped, the plane would start heading toward a crash and I would wake up," Emerson added during the interview.
The defendant also said he had been depressed and believed he was suffering from a mental breakdown, according to authorities.
Flight 2059 operated by Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air was en route from Everett, Washington state, to San Francisco, California, before having to be diverted to Portland.
Emerson was arrested and remains without bond at the Multnomah County Detention Center in Portland, according to jail records.
He has been charged with 83 counts of attempted murder and other charges in state court and has pleaded not guilty. He was also charged at the federal level with interfering with a flight crew.
Emerson's attorney, Noah Horst, said his client "would never intentionally harm another person" and that he "was not under the influence of any toxic substance when he boarded that flight."
No one was injured in the incident.