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posted by takyon on Sunday August 12 2018, @02:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the tomorrow-might-have-been-a-better-day-dept dept.

He stole a 76-seat Bombardier Q400 from Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Two NORAD F-15s scrambled from Portland. He was in contact with Air Traffic Control, apologized to his family. Said he was unwilling to land at a military base because "they would rough me up". Directed out over the Pacific by the fighters, crashed on an uninhabited island in Puget Sound.

A witness claimed he did a loop-de-loop but I didn't see it in his video.

I am completely convinced that suicidal depression can always be cured.

'Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose,' says man after taking passenger plane that crashed near Seattle

He had all the proper security credentials. He had been working his shift and was believed to still be in uniform. The baggage handler didn't seem out of place at all — until he was taxiing down the runway and taking off in a stolen passenger plane.

Media outlets identified him as Richard Russell, a 27-year-old who sparked a combination of amazement and fear as he flew — alone — a 76-seat Horizon Air Q400 plane for more than an hour before it crashed on a wooded area on Ketron Island south of Seattle.

He did a barrel roll. A daring swoop. Officials said they didn't believe he even had a pilot's license. "Incredible," Horizon Air President and Chief Executive Gary Beck said Saturday.

But investigators are still trying to understand why he decided to take the plane for a what appeared to be joy ride Friday evening from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The act also reignited discussions about airport and aviation security, with Alaska Airlines Chairman and CEO Brad Tilden repeating several times Saturday that passenger and employee safety was — and is — the company's primary concern.

Also at CNN.


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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 12 2018, @11:43PM (1 child)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday August 12 2018, @11:43PM (#720731) Homepage

    I'm sure that if Rich had his nuts fondled by the TSA, it was only once for his initial inspection. People who work in public transportation are granted "security clearance lite" and later fast-tracked into an actual government security clearance if needed due to the background investigations they already cleared.

    Hindsight is always 20/20, and even though this fellow dropped an airliner into the ground, he still scares me a lot less than most people with active security clearances working with classified technology. Now those are the true weirdos.

  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday August 13 2018, @12:00AM

    by Gaaark (41) on Monday August 13 2018, @12:00AM (#720746) Journal

    Preachin' to da choir.

    Vive la revolucion!
    :)

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---