Pilot In Fire Extinguisher Incident Facing Misdemeanor Charges

An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to set off the fire suppression system on a company E175 in flight will face misdemeanor charges in Oregon for the widely publicized incident. He's also likely to be released from custody to go home to California to await trial, according to the New York Times. A grand jury voted to drop the 83 counts of attempted murder against Capt. Joseph Emerson and proceed with the lesser charge of reckless endangerment against him. Emerson still faces a federal felony charge of endangering an aircraft, however.

Emerson was deadheading on the flight to San Francisco when he grabbed the handles. The captain and first officer were able to wrestle him away before fuel flow was interrupted and the fire extinguishers in the engines deployed. They made an otherwise uneventful emergency landing in Portland where Emerson was arrested and charged. He has since spoken publicly about the mental health issues and drug use that preceded the incident. It put a spotlight on pilot mental health issues and their reluctance to seek treatment because doing so would threaten their medical fitness. The indictment was announced the same day the FAA created a rulemaking committee to address mental health and medical fitness for pilots and air traffic controllers and a day before the NTSB holds a public meeting on the subject.