The article was originally published on https://sfist.com/2025/09/05/former-alaska-airlines-pilot-takes-plea-deal-in-case-involving-mushrooms-dangerous-cockpit-freakout/A former pilot for Alaska Airlines who was flying on a jumpseat home to the Bay Area from a trip to Washington, who nearly brought down the plane he was flying in due to a hallucination, is taking plea deals in both state and federal court. Joseph Emerson of Pleasant Hill faced change-of-plea hearings in both state and federal courts in Oregon Friday, stemming from his October 2023 case in which he endangered passengers and crew aboard an Alaska Airlines flight, when he was off-duty as a pilot but flying in the cockpit jumpseat. Emerson originally pleaded not guilty to charges that included 83 counts of reckless endangermen

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