Joseph Emerson, Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut off engines, had ‘mental breakdown’: passenger

The Alaska Airlines pilot who attempted to shut down the engines of passenger-filled airliner reportedly suffered a “mental breakdown” in the air, and was known by baffled neighbors as a doting father and devoted husband.

Joseph Emerson, 44, was off-duty while riding in the cockpit jump seat of a Washington to San Francisco flight Sunday when he allegedly leapt for the controls and attempted to activate the fire-suppression system on the plane — a move which would have cut off fuel to the engines and eventually sent the plane plummeting to the ground.

The flight’s captain and first officer managed to restrain Emerson then make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, where the flight crew informed the 80 passengers onboard what had happened in blunt terms.

“The flight attendant got back on the speaker and said, plain and simple, ‘He had a mental breakdown. We needed to get him off the plane immediately,’” passenger Aubrey Gavello told ABC News.

Alaska Airlines confirmed the incident, noting power was never lost to the plane and all passengers and crew were landed safely.

Emerson was detained upon landing, and hit with a myriad of charges, including 83 counts of attempted murder.

A married father of two, neighbors in his Pleasant Hill community just outside of San Francisco were left dumbfounded by news of the incident.

“It is just really shocking, disturbing news,” next-door neighbor Karen Yee told the Daily Mail.

“They are excellent neighbors. He is a fantastic father. He plays with the kids all the time. He’s very friendly. He’s just a great guy.

“We have a son with special needs, and he’s very good to him.” Yee said. “We just couldn’t imagine him doing anything to hurt someone.”

Another neighbor, elderly Air Force veteran Lou Rossi, said he and Emerson often spoke about airplanes and jet engines together.

“All I could do is vouch for his character,’ Rossi said. “I’ve helped him do things around his house. He does a lot of stuff with his kids. I can’t say one word that would be derogatory towards him at all.”

“I watched the news all the time, and I see things happen in neighborhoods where people say they could never believe someone would do something like this.”

“All I could tell you is he is a really nice man, and his wife Sarah is a really nice lady, and they never, ever even remotely made me think anything negative about them,” he said.

Emerson’s wife, Sarah Stretch, could not be reached when contacted by The Post.

In addition to the attempted murder charges, Emerson faces an additional 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count for endangering an aircraft in the first degree, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.

The flight had departed from Everette, Washington, around 5:30 pm, and made its emergency landing at the Portland International Airport in Oregon about an hour later. The plane was cruising at about 35,000 feet, flight data showed.

Emerson is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center in Portland, where he is awaiting arraignment.