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Passengers on a recent Alaska Airlines flight are suing the company over an off-duty pilot allegedly activated the emergency engine shutdown system, which they claim was a breach of passenger safety.
Three passengers -- Matthew Dolan, Theresa Stelter and Paul Stephen -- claim the incident caused emotional distress including “nausea on later flights, insomnia, anxiety, and flashbacks of the incident," as part of a class action lawsuit filed at the King County Superior court in Washington State on Thursday (November 2), which was obtained by NBC News Friday (November 3) morning. The three plaintiffs were all on the Alaska Airlines flight 2059 on October 22, which was traveling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco and, instead, resulted in an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.
The complaint, which lists Alaska Airlines and its affiliate, Horizon Air, as defendants, accuses Joseph Emerson, an off-duty pilot for the airline, of being allowed to travel in the cockpit's jumpseat, which is typically prohibit from paying passengers and reserved for pilots on occasion.
Emerson reportedly ripped off his earphones and told the cockpit he was "not OK" before he "tried to crash the aircraft by activating the fire suppression system to shut down the fuel to the engines" prior to he and the pilots wrestling "for seconds over control of the aircraft," the complaint states. Emerson was eventually stopped and left the flight deck, at which point the pilots were able to restore the flow of fuel and divert the flight to Portland, Oregon.
Emerson then attempted to open an emergency exit door located at the rear of the plane, but was successfully stopped by a nearby flight attendant. A flight attendant on the plane reportedly told authorities that she'd overheard Emerson say, "I messed everything up" and admitted that he "tried to kill everybody," according to court documents.
Emerson was charged with 83 counts of attempted murder, which he pleaded not guilty to during a court hearing in October, claiming he hadn't slept in 40 hours, suffered from depression and took magic mushrooms two days before the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight, while his attorney claimed he "would never intentionally hurt another person," NBC News reports.
"The airlines need a wake-up call. We understand that most pilots are heroes every day for safely operating our airliners. But they are not immune from sleeplessness, drinking, drugs, or a mental health crisis," said Daniel Laurence, an aviation lawyer at The Stritmatter Firm, which represents the three complaints, in a statement obtained by NBC News.