Off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot Joseph Emerson pleads NOT GUILTY to 83 counts of reckless endangerment after trying to shut down plane engines while high on magic mushrooms

An off-duty pilot who allegedly almost brought down a passenger jet after taking psychedelic magic mushrooms has pleaded not guilty to 83 counts of reckless endangerment. 

Joseph David Emerson, 44, allegedly tried to shut down the engines of an Alaska Airlines jet mid-flight on October 22, after he admitted to taking the hallucinogenic drugs two days prior that left him in a confused stupor. 

The pilot and father-of-two was arraigned in Multnomah County Court in Portland Oregon, where he appeared Thursday to deny 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft.