Off-duty US pilot who tried to shut down engines appears in court

An off-duty pilot riding in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines jet tried to disable the aircraft's engines on a flight from the Seattle area to San Francisco, but crew members subdued him, and the plane landed in Portland, Oregon, officials said on Monday.

Court documents showed he had taken magic mushrooms and thought he was having a nervous breakdown. He was arrested on Sunday in Portland and was booked into jail on 83 counts of attempted murder, 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of endangering an aircraft, according to the local prosecutor's office.