Okap in the Spotlight: The Alaska Airlines Incident and Mental Health in Aviation

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A soon-to-be-released documentary looks at the state of mental health in the aviation industry, through the lens of the former Alaska Airlines pilot charged with reckless endangerment last winter. Presented by The New York Times, ‘Lie To Fly’ will delve into what led up to Joseph Emerson’s alleged attempt to cut a plane’s engines mid-flight in October 2023.

The teaser released on Friday morning opens with the former pilot recalling the sudden death of a friend and fellow pilot, who was the best man at his wedding, in 2018. In an interview, he told the film crew it was the first time he had experienced the death of someone so close to him — so he turned to substances to “not fully experience the overwhelming pain.”

“There’s no right way to grieve, I don’t think,” Emerson said. “I can tell you what my experience is like, we did that by drinking a lot of gin and tonics because that was kind of Scott’s drink. Now, with hindsight, that’s not a successful coping mechanism — but there’s where I went quite a bit. It was a way to not fully experience the overwhelming pain of loss.”

After his wife urged him to go to therapy, both she and the therapist advised him to consider visiting a psychiatrist who could prescribe antidepressants. Emerson decided against it, saying he would immediately lose his ability to fly if he used any sort of antidepressants.

Court documents showed that he had, however, used psychedelic mushrooms for the first time — about 48 hours before he was accused of attempting to cut a plane’s engines while off duty.

“I remember having this feeling like, ‘Am I alive?’ In my mind, I was fighting for that reality. I grabbed the only two things that were in my eyesight that I think are gonna wake me up: shut-off handles,” Emerson said, recalling the moments before a fellow pilot declared an in-flight emergency and flight attendants held him in his seat.

The flight was headed from Everett, Wash., to San Francisco, but was soon diverted to the Portland International Airport where Emerson was arrested. In early December 2023, a Multnomah County jury indicted the man with 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of first-degree endangering an aircraft. He has since been released and permitted to return to his home in California, where he is awaiting trial.

‘Lie to Fly’ will premiere on FX Networks at 10 p.m. on Friday. Hulu will stream the documentary the following day.