Russell repeatedly says he would do a roll. The NTSB is now processing the equipment. Video from Friday showed the Horizon Air Q400 doing large loops and other dangerous maneuvers as the sun set on the Puget Sound. The FBI has recovered the flight data recorder and components of the cockpit voice recorder from the Horizon aircraft that crashed onto Ketron Island Friday night. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Even with this new footage at hand, its hard to figure out what made Russell embark on this brazen, fatal adventure. The rest of Mr Russell's time in the air was well documented, thanks to his regular contact with SeaTac's tower. In the days leading up to the theft and subsequent crash, employees and family didn't notice anything wrong with him, investigators wrote in the updated report. Newly released video shows the fiery scene firefighters encountered after an airplane stolen from Sea-Tac Airport crashed on Ketron Island. The fuselage was fragmented and appeared to be upside down, said Debra Eckrote, regional chief for the National Transportation Safety Board. Mr Russell was at times jovial at one point he assured SeaTac's tower that he didn't need help controlling the airplane because he had played some video games and questioned if it could do a backflip and was at others melancholic. New video shows the crash site and blogging made by Richard Russell, the airline worker who stole and crashed a plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He eventually climbs inside the cockpit and fires up the engine. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. The plane had been parked in a maintenance area and was not scheduled for a passenger flight, Tilden said. 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident - Wikipedia Could 3 Particles on a Tie Lead Us to D.B. Having to rely on the ferry system for transport, the first 40 responding firefighters stayed at the scene throughout the night. New Footage Shows Moments Before Seattle Man Crashed Plane in - YouTube The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Sunday that Russell had died in the fiery wreckage, but whether the crash was deliberate or accidental was one of several topics remaining for investigators. He managed to proceed with his plan unmolested largely because no one thought twice about the baggage handler working in the airport's restricted spaces. The reason I left is in February of 2016 they were short staffed and they had me run three planes in the same time, Reeves said. Chilling CCTV footage shows Richard Russell stealing plane before fatal New surveillance. "Yeah, he knew how to fly," she continued. I don't know! A Russian Air Force engineer made off with an Antonov An-26 transport plane from Kubinka Air Force Base near Moscow. Witnesses described the surreal scene after the plane left the airport. . At one point he asks the controller, Hey, do you think if I land this successfully, Alaska [Horizon Airs parent company, Alaska Airllines] will give me a job as a pilot? Told, You know, I think they would give you a job doing anything if you could pull this off, Russell replies, Yeah right! CCTV Footage Shows Baggage Handler Stealing Plane, Crashes On Island - TMZ "The greatest threat we have to aviation is the insider threat," said Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent and transportation security expert. 4.3M views 7 months ago A newly released video sheds new light on the moments leading up to Richard Russell crashing a plane. The theft illustrated what aviation experts have long known: One of the biggest potential perils for commercial air travel is airline or airport employees causing mayhem. Human remains were found in wake of Friday's tragic plane crash. Russell, a Horizon Air ground service agent for three and a half years, was the only person aboard the plane, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said. "I never thought I would work as a Ground Service Agent (GSA) for an Airlines company," he wrote in a blog post in September 2017. Man who took Horizon Air plane from Sea-Tac Airport was quiet, well Richard Russell died in Friday's plane crash. "Although investigators received information regarding Russells background, possible stressors, and personal life, no element provided a clear motivation for Russells actions.". Foote was an experienced glider pilot and had undergone 100 hours of simulator flying in the Skyhawk and had hoped to become a military pilot before his ambitions were derailed by health issues. U.S. Air Force Sergeant Paul Meyer, a 23-year-old crew chief stationed at Mildenhall Air Base in England, stole a C-130 cargo plane and took off. 2. Richard Russell: Man who stole SeaTac plane was warm and compassionate Scroll down to continue . July 13, 1994. MH370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was a flight-sim enthusiast who is known to have taken a simulated flight path similar to the one authorities believe the plane ultimately took into the southern Indian Ocean. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. He was in the air for about an hour. Worker who stole plane and crashed identified, See stolen plane flying moments before crash, Co-worker of man who stole plane speaks out, Official: Man taxied plane before stealing it, Airline worker's family releases statement, Airline issues statement after Seattle crash, Witness: Thought Air Force was practicing for show. ", "I've got a lot of people that care about me, and it's going to disappoint them to hear that I did this," Russell says. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The incident came about when a 29-year-old man stole an aircraft from Seattle-Tacoma International airport in August 2018. Lee Callahan in the morning, and the No Repeat Workday while you work! Russell was recorded having multiple conversations with air traffic controllers who were trying to talk him into landing. Richard Russell said he didn't need much help: 'I've played some video An hour and 45 minutes into the flight, Meyer crashed into the English Channel. An FBI investigation found Alaska Airlines ramp employee Richard Russell intentionally crashed the aircraft after flying for more than an hour. In the footage, Mr Russell can be seen calmly moving through the airport wearing a black shirt that says "The Sky's No Limit." F-15 fighter jets scrambled to intercept the Q400, which ultimately crashed into Ketron Island, about 30 miles from the airport. It did not elaborate. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Russell had no piloting experience, but he managed . "So, (he) had some knowledge but clearly wasn't a commercial pilot.". A 777 Nearly Plunged Into the Ocean After Takeoff, In audio recordings released over the internet, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. What followed was a 73-minute joyride during which Richard Beebo Russell had a surprisingly candid conversation with air-traffic controllers as he pushed the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 twin-engine plane through some daring acrobatic moves. Richard Russell Plane Crash Video Explained He later stole the plane and eventually crashed it into an island in Puget Sound. After proceeding through the pre-flight checklist and moving the pushback tractor, Mr Russell began rolling the plane toward a runway. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.. New Video Shows When Richard Russell Stole a Plane at Sea-Tac - Jalopnik CNN's Kyung Lah reports. New Video Shows Man Stealing Horizon Air Plane In 2018 Incident (AFP/Getty Images) Russell, 29, flew the plane for 75 . Video released to KOMO News from the Port of Seattle capture the final moments of Richard Russell who took a Horizon Air plane from SeaTac Airport without authorization, performed acrobatic. KIRO 7 News Seattle facebook feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle twitter feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle youtube feed(Opens a new window), Who was Richard Russell? The Seattle FBI office said Sunday that it had recovered the flight data recorder and components of the cockpit voice recorder from the Horizon plane. Details of man who sources say stole airplane from Sea-Tac, Officials: Man who stole plane, died in crash not a pilot, Woman faces decades in prison after lying about murder, Do you have an investigative story tip? Investigators "did not identify any information that would suggest the theft of the aircraft was related to wider criminal activity or terrorist ideology," according to a summary of the FBI report. In a humorous YouTube video he posted last year, he talked about his job and included videos and photos of his various travels. A beautifully-written Rolling Stone article published in summer of 2021 tells the story of Russells life up to the moment he towed the plane onto the runway and hopped in the cockpit, attempting to find meaning or motive to help explain why this goofy, God-fearing baggage handler decided to steal a plane he likely knew he couldnt successfully land. 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Enter for your chance to win a visit to the Disneyland Resort with 96.5 JACK FM! They said it's clear Russell didn't intend to harm anyone, and "he was right in saying that there are so many people who loved him. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but the F-15s did not bring the plane down, Eckrote said. The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a turboprop that seats 76 people, owned by Horizon Air, part of Alaska Airlines. An air traffic controller called him "Rich," and tried to convince him to land the airplane. As a flight controller tried to persuade him to land, he wondered aloud about whether he had enough fuel to make it to the Olympics, talked of the beautiful view, and said he had a lot of people who cared about him, apologizing for what he was doing. July 4, 1986. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. SEATAC, Wash. - It was a shocking scene above the Puget Sound, as Horizon Airlines employee Richard Russell stole and flew a turboprop from Sea-Tac Airport while air traffic tried to talk him . The Sky Thief Richard Russell Plane Crash Video Gone Viral: What The man has been identified as Richard Russell, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN on Saturday night. Photos show first responders that night sleeping outside on the ground. You did that. All Rights Reserved. It's gonna be crazy," Mr Russel said.

An airline employee stole an otherwise unoccupied passenger plane Friday from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and flew it for an hour with military jets chasing him before crashing in a wooded area 40 miles away.

. I don't want to. Ah, dammit. Also see | Cockpit audio from worker who stole empty plane from Sea-Tac Airport. It was one of the strangest, scariest, most bizarre events of 2018: A baggage handler at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport moseyed onto the tarmac, hopped in an unoccupied Horizon Air passenger plane, taxied to an empty runway, and took off. "We are devastated by these events, and Jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now. Marine Corps lance corporal Howard A. Foote, Jr. stole an A-4M Skyhawk ground attack jet from Marine Corps Air Station El Toro and took it on a 45-minute aerobatic joyride before returning to base and landing safely. "Our hearts are with the families of the individual aboard as well as all of our Alaska Air and Horizon Air employees," said Constance von Muehlen, the airline's chief operating officer. Reeves said he left Horizon because workers are overworked and underpaid. The Associated Press contributed to this report. New video released Wednesday shows what first responders found after a plane stolen from Sea-Tac Airport crashed on a south Puget Sound island last August. Richard "Beebo" Russell, the Horizon Air employee who stole a plane from Sea-Tac Airport on Friday night, performed midair acrobatics over Puget Sound and then crashed into an island, was an. Richard Russell said he didn't need much help: 'I've played some video