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As we previously reported, a 44-year-old off-duty Alaskan Airlines pilot from Pleasant Hill allegedly tried to shut down plane engines while he was allegedly high on magic mushrooms during a flight in October. 83 people were on board the plane at the time of the incident.
The charges against him were originally 83 counts of attempted murder, but those charges have since been downgraded to 83 counts of reckless endangerment, which is a misdemeanor.
QUESTION: Do you think he should he be charged with attempted murder or reckless endangerment?
Talk about it.
28 comments
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The general public does not have all the facts to render a valid opinion.
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I think he made a big mistake taking the mushrooms. I think when you consider these things were made legal has to be in consideration taken in the charges. I don’t think the rest of his life should be wrecked much farther. When something like these mushrooms are legalized there will be problems.
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FYI
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The bill to legalize “magic mushrooms” was authored by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-SF).
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The bill was passed by CA’s Democrat- dominated legislature but thankfully vetoed by Newsom.
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Can only base answer on what I’ve seen/heard in media….. therefore; I feel unable to respond with true accounting….
sidenote: Life w/o in Gen Pop
DEM state legislature thought magic mushrooms were such a great idea.
Imagine drivers trying to escape the large white rabbit chasing them.
I agree that this state is making a big mistake trying to legalize these psychedelic mushrooms. They claim they could be sold in marijuana shops and that they do no harm but only mellow people out. Plus the street sale would explode exponentially . This is just another big lie that the liberals in the state are pushing on to society .
But you see the point in this pilot who took them to help treat his depression. He was not trying to crash the plane … he thought it was pulling a lever that would wake him up from his dream. So imagine next time you’re on a Bart platform and a person who had taken ‘shrooms in the last few days decides he wants to pull you into the ‘swimming pool’ for fun (the Bart tracks)
The interesting thing is the media hardly ever mentions the magic mushrooms but rather only refer to his depression. I honestly think they’re trying to hide the fact of the bad side effects so they could get it pushed through legalization.
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FYI
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The bill to legalize “magic mushrooms” was authored by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-SF).
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The bill was passed by CA’s Democrat- dominated legislature but thankfully vetoed by Newsom.
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@ORIGINAL G……
“…..And the ones that Mother gives you don’t do anything at all…”. Or are you referring to Harvey, the invisible 6′ rabbit?
Don’t ya miss the old days, when was easy to spot those with a “problem”.
The ones walking around talking to themselves.
Now days it’s called blue tooth.
From what I understand, the 83 charges of reckless endangerment are Oregon state charges. He still faces a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew, which is a felony. I do not think he should be charged with attempted murder because they will have to prove malice, and he would probably be found not guilty and walk away a free man, but I do think they should charge him with something other than reckless endangerment, like attempted involuntary manslaughter.
I’m sure the FAA will revoke his pilot’s license, and his career will be over. But there should be some prison time added. He has to learn that what he did will not be tolerated. There must be serious consequences because a slap on the wrist only teaches him that taking shrooms, or any intoxicating substance before, or during a flight is OK, and he will get away with it.
I’m more concerned about the states wanting to legalize psilocybin mushrooms. There’s already too many people driving under the influence of something intoxicating, and making it easier to purchase shrooms will only add to the problem.
It would be so easy to pop off about this, especially because of the huge amount of trust that we put into our airlines and our pilots for the personal safety of ourselves, our family and our friends. I don’t feel that I am in a position to render an opinion at this time.
I don’t think I can really say what the charges should be. Now, if I was a passenger on that flight, this will be different. Just saying.
He needs to spend some time in a mental institution and get drug counseling. He obviously was not in his right mind and needs real help!
Reckless endangerment not attempted murder.
I think it’s time to say NOBODY allowed in the cockpit except the crew, 1 less possible problem.
It’s not called DOPE for nothing.
“This is your brain on drugs!”
If if was just you or me, maybe reckless endangerment fits. But dude is…or was a pilot. He could only perform that act in malice with his training and experience considered. That’s attempted murder to me.
Exactly. I’ surprised he’s getting so much support. There was a real possibility he could have crash the plane and killed all aboard. I can’t see him getting off lightly.
US deaths by excessive alcohol per year: 140,000
Us deaths by alcohol DUI: Over 13,000 per year
US deaths by mushroom overdose per year: 0
I’m with the Red Queen….. off with his head!
He has two little kids in a nice neighborhood in pleasant hill. He made a huge mistake but I don’t think it’s attempt murder. I would recommend 300 hours of community service, revoke pilots license, victims restitution for all 83 victims (which includes things like their medical bills related to this event), apology letter for all 83 victims, no drugs/alcohol, 5 years of Probation and suspend state prison so he he violates he goes to the big house.
There were no injuries. The guy voluntarily left the cockpit and walked to the very back of the aircraft. Even if he had shut down both engines the odds are there would be no injuries. Modern aircraft are powered gliders. Without power, they become gliders. The flight crew has plenty of time to see if one or both engines can be restarted while also figuring out the best choices among the airfields within gliding range.
For example, in the 2009 US Airways flight 1549 lost all power at just 2,818 feet giving captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger very little time to both try to restart at least one engine and to find a place to land. It appears most of the resulting injuries were hypothermia from standing on the wings while out on the Hudson River. A few months after the crash, Captain Sullenberger, while being interviewed by AARP Magazine, was asked how he was able to execute a nearly perfect water landing. He replied, “One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.”
The Alaska Airlines aircraft was being flown by a human flight crew who handled the issue quite well and talked the guy into leaving quietly. It’s a good reason to use human flight crews and not artificial intelligences.
I used to fly single engine aircraft and gliders. A glider with no air currents for lift has a glide ratio of 30 to 1 Thats thirty feet forward for one foot down. Most single engine aircraft have a glide ratio of around 15 to 1. For years I was always under the impression that a plane like a 747 would sink like a rock with all power off but it turns out they are about the same as single engine aircraft. However If you are not near an airport I would rather be in a single engine airplane because you can always find a place to land and survive. 747 not so much
attempted murder for the person who tried to pull the lever to shut down the engines. Reckless endangerment to SOMEONE (the pilot in command of the flight?) that allowed that visiting pilot to be in the cockpit in a non-ready to fly condition.
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If “shut down”, the engines could have been restarted by the captain and first officer.
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Just sayin’.
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There is a case where a china airliner lost power at 4 3000 ft on engine number 4 and in trying to restart the engine they lost faith in the attitude indica They were in the clouds so had no view of the horizon. The airplane rolled and dove 30000 feet before they got out of the clouds and see what position the airplane was in and they were able to bring it back to level flight It had thrown passengers all over the place and did sever damage to the aircraft . They were lucky the sky opened up at 10000ft. All from 1 engine going out
Maybe we should ask the Weenie.
Nothing that a year or two in the “nut hut” wouldn’t straighten out.
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