Off-duty pilot allegedly tried to shut off engines on Alaska Airlines flight

I was on this flight, I sat in the back and did not witness the initial events however I heard the pilot say we were diverting the flight to PDX and shortly after the jumpseat pilot was led to back of the plane.<p>I thought he was having a heart attack, or possibly diabetic because the flight attendants were telling him it was &quot;going to be okay&quot; and to &quot;take deep breaths&quot;, the guy was acting scared and non-violent.<p>The flight attendant later announced it was a &quot;medical emergency&quot; which I thought it was weird because they never asked if there was a doctor on board. The pilot later explained that there was a &quot;disturbance in the cockpit and we will likely board a new plane&quot;. Finally after we landed he was escorted by police.

How do you fix the mental health issue with pilots? My understanding is that as soon as you self report you’ve basically jeopardised your career and you’re grounded for a minimum of 6 months while you wait for FAA physicians.

The Seattle Times adds a detail that isn&#x27;t in other articles: the off duty pilot had successfully shut off fuel flow using the same handles:<p>----<p>To activate they must reach up and pull the handle down and turn it to lock it in place. Pulling the handle cuts electrical and hydraulic power to the engine and closes the fuel line.<p>Turning the handle then releases a pressurized bottle of fire-suppressing halon gas.<p>Alaska Air spokesperson Alexa Rudin said via email that “fortunately some residual fuel remains in the line, and the quick reaction of our crew to reset the handles restored fuel flow and prevented fuel starvation.”<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;boeing-aerospace&#x2F;alaska-air-off-duty-pilot-tries-to-shut-off-engines-on-flight-from-everett&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;boeing-aerospace&#x2F;alask...</a>

There are quite a few of these instances, a Germanwings pilot, this one and MH370 is suspected to be a suicide case as well, and many more (see Wikipedia page linked below). There may well be more than that where the truth will never come out.<p>Pilots are not immune to suicidal ideation, the problem is that they have a unique combination of responsibility, means and opportunity. Roughly 4% of all adults consider suicide at some point in their lives and this isn&#x27;t any different for pilots.<p>See: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Suicide_by_pilot" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Suicide_by_pilot</a>

Already on VASAviation: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=dbU6E6VJx30">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=dbU6E6VJx30</a>

That&#x27;s scary, now let me add to that. Imagine if he was one of the pilots allowed to carry firearms on the plane.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;world-us-canada-43377461" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;world-us-canada-43377461</a>

After the Germanwings disaster[0] and the near miss here, I wonder if it is time to re-evaluate the reinforced cockpit doors. Basically, every single passenger on an airplane knows that if someone is trying to attack the doors or otherwise hijack the plane, you have to stop them no matter what. Even if the hijackers have guns or knives, you still have a better chance trying to fight them.<p>On the other hand, a single pilot behind a reinforced cockpit door can bring down the entire aircraft.<p>0.<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Germanwings_Flight_9525" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Germanwings_Flight_9525</a>

Side note: Anyone in the greater area north of Seattle, Paine Field is a breath of fresh air compared to SeaTac.<p>Small airports rock if they fly direct to where you want to go.

AVHerald page. Will get updated as more information becomes available: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;avherald.com&#x2F;h?article=510218dd&amp;opt=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;avherald.com&#x2F;h?article=510218dd&amp;opt=0</a>

Can you restart the engines after the fire extinguish handles are pulled?

The scary part is that he could very well have had this mental episode while in full control of his own aircraft, and at that point no one could have done anything to stop him.

Anyone have any knowledge of what would have happened had he successfully pulled the fire extinguisher handles? I have to imagine it would still be recoverable? Though I do understand that you’d be having to deal with recovering the engines at the same time as dealing with a hostile individual in the cockpit.

It’s strange that he did this when in the jump seat, and with other crew members present.<p>Post 9&#x2F;11, it is more common to wait for pilots to wait for the other pilot to use the restroom, then lock the anti-hijacking door. At that point, there’s effectively unlimited time to down &#x2F; hijack the plane.

I’m tired of people citing “mental health” issues as a way to soften any wrong doing by people who should otherwise be thought of as murderers with criminal intentions and no regard for human life. These people should be locked up and kept far away from civilized society, not sympathized.<p>Plenty of people with mental issues get through life without wanting to kill others off. And a lot of people who <i>want</i> to kill others don’t even have mental health issues, they’re just evil or apathetic.

Without motive, this is just speculation. But, mental health &#x2F; stability of pilots is not an easy thing to track, as the GermanWings crash taught us[0].<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;admiralcloudberg.medium.com&#x2F;the-madness-in-our-methods-the-crash-of-germanwings-flight-9525-and-our-broken-aeromedical-system-5b95abd4fe6d" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;admiralcloudberg.medium.com&#x2F;the-madness-in-our-metho...</a>

Do you figure an airplane counts as a “dangerous weapon” for the purposes of the sentence enhancement at the end of 49 U.S.C. 46504?

&gt;Federal officials allege Joseph David Emerson tried to shut down the engines in midflight and had to be subdued by the two pilots.<p>Why couldn&#x27;t he? Does it take a long time to press the button, do you need several people to press it at once...?

Not in the article but what was the int? To actually kill everyone?

No idea what you do about this but it’s one of my biggest fears when flying. Fortunately you have two pilots but I don’t like seeing one step out to use the restroom ever.

Yikes. This is the flight I take home from visiting family usually multiple times per year. Love PAE as an airport.

Why was he in the cockpit? I thought non-flight crew (attendants and pilots) were given regular passenger seats?

And just like that, special issuance for mental health will become that much more impossible.

Do we have any word yet on motive?

Any info on whether this guy was married or had a family? The other guy that crashed the plane from seatac didn&#x27;t. just wanted to see if there was a correlation.

Shouldn&#x27;t pilots, as a matter of course, have to undergo regular emotional checkips to ensure they&#x27;re emotionally stable?

Mental breakdown or attempted terror attack. These days anything is possible.

I wonder if drugs were involved.

Back in the days when you could go into the cockpit for a chat, the pilots turned the engines of our 747 off (well, idle) over the middle of the Atlantic to show my brother and I how the autopilot worked.

(duplicated from non-main thread)<p>I was on this flight, I sat in the back and did not witness the initial events however I heard the pilot say we were diverting the flight to PDX and shortly after the jumpseat pilot was led to back of the plane.<p>I thought he was having a heart attack, or possibly diabetic because the flight attendants were telling him it was &quot;going to be okay&quot; and to &quot;take deep breaths&quot;, the guy was acting scared and non-violent.<p>The flight attendant later announced it was a &quot;medical emergency&quot; which I thought it was weird because they never asked if there was a doctor on board. The pilot later explained that there was a &quot;disturbance in the cockpit and we will likely board a new plane&quot;. Finally after we landed he was escorted by police.

why-do-we-even-have-that-button.gif

I&#x27;m confused why a pilot on a deadhead flight[0] was in the cockpit in the first place?<p>The one (and perhaps only) significant safety change to air travel after 9&#x2F;11 was the decision to keep the cockpit doors locked (and unopenable except from the inside) and to forbid passengers inside the cockpit between takeoff and landing.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;abcnews.go.com&#x2F;US&#x2F;alaska-airlines-flight-diverted-after-credible-security-threat&#x2F;story?id=104223059" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;abcnews.go.com&#x2F;US&#x2F;alaska-airlines-flight-diverted-af...</a>

One plausible reason as some have mentioned below is some mental health episode... my question is why do 83 people have to die because someone in a priviledged position can&#x27;t handle their issues? The answer is they shouldn&#x27;t. Just like the mentally unstable or those with violent histories shouldn&#x27;t have access to guns folks who need this kind of help shouldn&#x27;t have the lives of people in their hands.