Some dude stole a plane from #Seatac (Allegedly), did a loop-the-loop, ALMOST crashed into #ChambersBay, then crossed in front of our party, chased by fighter jets and subsequently crashed. Weird times. pic.twitter.com/Ra4LcIhwfU — bmbdgty (@drbmbdgty) August 11, 2018 A suicidal airport grounds services worker stole an airplane from Sea-Tac International Airport and took it on a dramatic unauthorized flight, where it was chased by fighter planes as he attempted “stunts” in the air before the plane crashed, authorities and multiple reports on social media said. “A joyride gone terribly wrong,” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said in a news conference, adding that the plane crashed either because the man didn’t know how to fly it or because the man was trying to perform stunts. The 29-year-old Washington State man appears to be dead, but no one else was injured, Pastor said. The pilot was named as Richard Russell by the Seattle Times. You can read about Russell’s life here. Audio captured emotional conversations between the man, named as “Rich,” and air traffic controllers trying to help him land the 76-seat airplane safely. Rich was born in Key West, Florida, moved to Alaska as a child, and once ran a bakery; he dreamed of being in the military and was assigned to unload bags at the Seattle airport, but was not authorized to fly airplanes. His family expressed “complete shock” and remembered him as a compassionate man. Here is a statement from the family of Richard Russell, the Horizon Air employee who stole a plane, crashed it into Ketron Island. “This is a complete shock to us. We are devastated by these events and Jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now.” pic.twitter.com/5z4BYRBrcU — Kierra Elfalan (@KierraElfalanTV) August 12, 2018 “Damnit Andrew, people’s lives are at stake here,” Rich said at one point in the audio, which you can listen to later in this article. “Ah, Rich, don’t say stuff like that,” the controller said. “I don’t want to hurt no one. I just want you to whisper sweet nothings into my ear,” said Rich, a Horizon Airlines employee from Sumner, Washington, who claimed he could fly the plane because he played video games. However, at another point Rich admitted he didn’t know how to land the plane and was never planning to do so. “I wouldn’t know how to land it,” he said. Sea-Tac airport confirmed the plane was down a short time later. “An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed,” the airport wrote. An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed. — Sea-Tac Airport (@SeaTacAirport) August 11, 2018 The audio between the man known as “Rich” and air traffic controllers further captured his demeanor. “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. I’m going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. Never really knew it, until now,” the unidentified man said at one point. I'm listening through the archive of the radio chatter on the #seatac hijacking. Below are some of the clips. pic.twitter.com/ziBAYv7cgn — Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018 At one point, Rich asked for help in getting the cabin depressurized, complaining he was getting lightheaded. “I don’t need that much help; I’ve played some video games before,” he told the controllers trying to help him. “Ah, minimum wage. We’ll chalk it up to that. Maybe that will grease the gears a little bit with the higher-ups,” he said at another point. Full video form John Waldron on Facebook being shown on CNN #seatac pic.twitter.com/R98bl5uQBr — Cameron Thomsen (@CameronThomsen) August 11, 2018 At another point, Rich said, “I’m down to 2100; I started at like 30-something.” “Rich, you said you had 2100 pounds of fuel left?” the controller responded. “Yeah – I don’t know what the burnage…is like on a takeoff but yeah. It’s burned quite a bit faster than I expected.” VideoVideo related to passengers report stolen seatac plane, grounded flights 2018-08-10T23:49:23-04:00 At one point, “Rich” talked about the serenity of the view. Talking about watching the sights go by. This one got me. #seatacstolenplane Thank you @petersterne for this. pic.twitter.com/xW6oFCYrYe — Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018 You can listen to more of the archived audio later in this article. “I hope this prompts a nationwide discussion about mental healthcare overall. ?” wrote one woman on Twitter, echoing the comments of many people who heard it. (If you need help, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.) Listening to the audio recordings, I feel nothing but sadness for Rich, for the man who stole that plane at #SeaTac and committed suicide. He sounds like a broken man who needed help. — Luke Adams ? (@luketadams) August 11, 2018 I’m praying for #Rich tonight—not just the guy who stole a plane from #SeaTac, but every guy like Rich who (it seems…but I’ll admit I’m assuming a lot here) is suffering and cannot find a better way out. Here’s hoping that the next Rich crashes on a couch of a good listener. — Joe (@htown_Joe) August 11, 2018 Here’s what you need to know: Fighter Jets Chased the Plane Before It Crashed Into Ketron Island Video showing the moments that the stolen plane crashed outside of Seattle ? pic.twitter.com/ZkHvhouHlN — Kris Hanson (@KrisHansonRCF) August 11, 2018 The man’s bizarre and ultimately doomed flight pushed fighter planes into action. The Pierce County Sheriff wrote on Twitter, “Stolen horizon airplane crashed into Ketron island. Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island.” The Sheriff’s Department added, “Two military F 15 chased plane but was not involved in crash” and confirmed, “No passengers on plane.” NORAD said in a statement that the fighter jets did not fire on the airplane or shoot it down. FAA reported stolen a/c from Sea-Tac airport and requested DoD assistance. NORAD launched 2x F-15 who intercepted the a/c and were working to redirect the aircraft out over the Pacific when it crashed. The fighters did not fire upon the a/c. Event pass to local rescue and law enf pic.twitter.com/f9wQ6ew80L — NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@Norad_Northcom) August 11, 2018 The fighter jets were scrambled from Portland. The Sheriff’s Department also wrote: “Told F 15s made it within a few minutes of theft of plane. Pilots kept plane out of harms way and people on ground safe. Yay air force . They may not admit for a few days. But is true..” Alaska Airlines also released this statement: Alaska Airlines believes a ground service agent employed by Horizon Air was the individual responsible for flying the Horizon Q400 without clearance from Sea-Tac International Airport around 8 p.m. tonight. The plane, which was taken from a maintenance position and was not scheduled for passenger flight, crashed about an hour later in a wooded area on Ketron Island in rural Pierce County. No ground structures were involved at the crash site. Military jets were scrambled from Portland, but it does not appear that these jets were involved in the crash of the Horizon aircraft. This individual who took the aircraft, who has not yet been positively identified until remains are examined, is believed to have been the only person on the plane when the plane was taken from a maintenance position at Sea-Tac. The man has not been named, but authorities said he was suicidal. “Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence. We are working back ground on him now,” the Pierce County Sheriff wrote. “This is not a terrorist incident. Confirmed info .. this is a single suicide male. We know who he is. No others involved.” He's flying out over the Olympic mountains when his radio starts to become harder to hear. Thanks @BrianJAlford for this one. pic.twitter.com/Ao7wneMFme — Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018 The FBI’s Seattle office is investigating but doesn’t suspect terrorism. Although response efforts to tonight's aircraft incident and the investigation are still ongoing, information gathered thus far does NOT suggest a terrorist threat or additional, pending criminal activity. — FBI Seattle (@FBISeattle) August 11, 2018 The airline earlier confirmed that an “unauthorized take-off” occurred. “We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more,” Alaska Airlines wrote on Twitter around 9:20 p.m. on the west coast. We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more. — Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018 People posted photos and videos to Twitter of a plume of smoke and possible crash site. One man wrote on Twitter, “Some dude stole a plane from #Seatac (Allegedly), did a loop-the-loop, ALMOST crashed into #ChambersBay, then crossed in front of our party, chased by fighter jets and subsequently crashed. Weird times.” @KING5Seattle here’s a video of the hijacked plane and fighter escort from Steilacoom in the ferry line for anderson Island pic.twitter.com/8fgAUe05xv — Kai Simpson (@Kai_AHS) August 11, 2018 CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave wrote, “FAA sources say it appears an airline employee stole a Horizon Air Turbo Prop from SeaTac and took off and crashed Ketron Island outside Seattle.” He shared a tweet from a woman named Victoria, who wrote, “Sitting on a plane at SeaTac Airport, a Horizon employee just hijacked an airplane. He is flying around the airport, he does not know how to land it. Happening right now. SeaTac airport.” VideoVideo related to passengers report stolen seatac plane, grounded flights 2018-08-10T23:49:23-04:00 Morgan Chesky, a reporter for KOMO News, wrote, “Per JBLM source: After being contacted by F-15’s, stolen plane began to nose dive, crashing in north Pierce County.” Apparently someone stole a plane from SeaTac? Saw two fighter jets fly overhead then smoke pic.twitter.com/w0bveGUJQH — McKenna Brown (@mckenna_brown) August 11, 2018 Live aviation audio from the tower said, at one point, that dispatchers were urging the man to try “to land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody” while dealing with a snarl of stalled planes on the ground. Other audio reported a ground stop was underway at SeaTac, the airport that services Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Patch confirmed there was a “security incident” underway at SeaTac. Laments that he can't just chat with the people on the other end. @BrianJAlford pic.twitter.com/m1S5h9Ay7f — Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018 At one point in the dramatic audio, “Rich” told the tower he was losing an engine. Periodically, his voice cut into the dispatches. At one point, “Rich” (or “Rick”), said on the aviation audio, “This is probably jail time for life, huh? I would hope it is for a guy like me.” People on Twitter who were following the aviation audio reported that the man attempted a “barrel roll” with the plane at one point – or at least claimed he was going to do so. Others reported that the man had supposedly “buzzed” Mt. Rainier. The man said to dispatchers at one point, “You think if I can land this successfully, Alaska will give me a job as a pilot?” and the Air Traffic Control tower said, “I think they will give you a job doing anything if you pull this off.” He replied, “yeahhh right. Nah, I’m a white guy.” “There is the runway just about a mile off your right side, do you see that? That’s McChord field,” the controller tells the man. “Aw man, those guys would rough me up if I tried landing there,” Rich says. “I think I might mess something up there too. I wouldn’t want to do that. Oh- they’ve probably got anti-aircraft…not quite ready to bring it down just yet. Holy smokes, I’ve got to stop looking at the fuel because it’s going down quick.”<doc-sep>The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Footage captured by witnesses shows the hijacked Horizon Air Q400 performing stunts over Ketron Island near Seattle. The double propeller plane banks violently to the left as it hurtles perilously close the ground. Shocked witnesses proclaim “it just did a loop-the-loop”. And then moments later the 1655mph F-15 comes screaming overhead in chase. The video then ends – and just moments later the aircraft had crashed in the Puget Sound. The sheriff said the pilot appeared to have acted alone and was most likely killed in the crash. The hijacker has been described as a 29-year-old mechanic who worked for an “unknown airline”. He is believed to have been suicidal when he stole the plane capable of carrying 76 passengers. The employee appeared to be in distress as he spoke to air traffic control while flying the stolen plane, according to a tower broadcast of the conversation. (Image: TWITTER/@drbmbdgty) “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this,” the employee said to controllers. “I would like to apologize to each and every one of them,” the man added. “Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.” Air traffic controllers attempted to talk the man into landing at McChord field – but he refused. (Image: TWITTER/@drbmbdgty) (Image: TWITTER/@drbmbdgty) The man also said he had no flying experience – but had “played some video games before”. He also moans about pay to the airport staff on the radio, saying “Minimum wage, we’ll chalk it up to that. Maybe that will grease the gears a bit with the higher-ups”. Police described him as a “suicidal male” and confirmed he is local. Two F-15s were scrambled from Oregon to give chase to the plane. (Image: FLIGHTRADAR24) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport confirmed an airline employee stole the plane. Alaska Airlines said that it was aware of an unauthorized take-off of the airplane operated by a sister carrier Horizon Air. No passengers were onboard and normal operations have resumed at the airfield, the airport said on Twitter. And there was no indication that the incident was an act of terror, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor told KIRO7 news station in Seattle.<doc-sep>
@KMPHFOX26: #BREAKING Alaska Airlines says it is aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This video was taken by a woman who… pic.twitter.com/eQeUsRu1nm — TVNews Osorno (@tvnews_osorno) August 11, 2018 A suicidal man took an airplane from Sea-Tac airport for a bizarre flight in which he was chased by fighter planes and then crashed the aircraft. Live and archived dispatch audio from the Air Traffic Control tower, which you can listen to later in this article, captured conversations with the man, and Alaska Airlines has confirmed that an “unauthorized take-off” occurred. Horizon Air Q400 Seattle ATC AudioClick to subscribe! bit.ly/subAIRBOYD Various scanner recordings from liveatc.net and broadcastify.com SEA Ground, Tower, Departure/Approach. Audio starts with another aircraft reporting the Q400 exiting the maintenance/cargo area and taking off without clearance. Radio banter in between, ending with the intercept audio for Rock 41 and Rock 42. suicidepreventionlifeline.org afsp.org AIRBOYD – The most viewed aviation… 2018-08-11T07:51:33.000Z The man who took the plane was later identified as Richard Russell. You can read about his life here. Audio between the man – whose name was given as “Rich” and air traffic controllers – shows they tried to help him. “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. I’m going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. Never really knew it, until now,” the unidentified man said at one point. At one point, Rich asked for help in getting the cabin depressurized, complaining he was getting lightheaded. “I don’t need that much help; I’ve played some video games before,” he told Air Traffic controllers trying to help him. “Ah, minimum wage. We’ll chalk it up to that. Maybe that will grease the gears a little bit with the higher-ups,” he said at another point. The Pierce County Sheriff wrote on Twitter, “Stolen horizon airplane crashed into Ketron island. Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island.” The Sheriff’s Department added, “Two military F 15 chased plane but was not involved in crash” and confirmed, “No passengers on plane.” The man has not been named, but authorities said he was suicidal. “Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence. We are working back ground on him now,” the Pierce County Sheriff wrote. Here’s what you need to Know: Passengers Reported That Pilots Said Someone Stole a Plane & Audio Captured the Man’s Voice Audio from the SeaTac tower reported that aircraft were lined up on the tarmac and periodically captured controllers’ attempts to communicate with the man as F 15s were scrambled out of Portland. At one point, Rich said, “I’m down to 2100; I started at like 30-something.” “Rich, you said you had 2100 pounds of fuel left?” the controller responded. “Yeah – I don’t know what the burnage…is like on a takeoff but yeah. It’s burned quite a bit faster than I expected.” You can listen to some archived aviation audio on the incident here: “Damnit Andrew, people’s lives are at stake here,” Rich says at another point. “Ah, Rich, don’t say stuff like that.” “I don’t want to hurt no one. I just want you to whisper sweet nothings into my ear.” This man archived some of the conversations the man on the plane had with ATC: I'm listening through the archive of the radio chatter on the #seatac hijacking. Below are some of the clips. pic.twitter.com/ziBAYv7cgn — Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018 Many passengers took to social media to report that pilots were telling them a man had stolen a plane. “We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more,” Alaska Airlines wrote on Twitter around 9:20 p.m. on the west coast. We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more.