Joseph David Emerson is set to enter pleas Friday in federal and state courts in Portland to charges that he tried to shut off a plane’s engines over Oregon while riding as an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot in a cockpit jump seat.
Emerson, now 46, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in federal court to interfering with flight crew members and attendants, a felony, and face sentencing at a later date.
He’s set to plead no contest in the afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court to 83 misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another - one count for each person on the plane - and one count of first-degree endangering an aircraft, a felony.
Emerson is expected to be sentenced immediately in state court to probation, avoiding any time in custody. Under the plea agreement, he will