He could have envisioned an aerial joyride and return to the ground. Published Two F-15 fighter planes were scrambled to follow Rich, who eventually crashed into a wooded area a little over an hour after takeoff, killing only himself. The incident spawned numerous image macros, photoshops and fan arts on 4chan and other online communities. 1.6K. Weird times., 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. [45] The aircraft was worth $30million, all of which was paid under the company's insurance policy "with no deductibles. [4] It landed at SeattleTacoma International Airport at 13:35 local time the afternoon of the incident, after an in-service flight from Victoria, British Columbia. Disclaimer: I am in no way proficient in the arts.. Mr. Russell was clearly overwhelmed with the world in which he found himself, a world vandalized, a world stripped of his ancestral . Second, psychiatric diagnosis also suggests simple solutions to complex problems: If he did it because he was mentally ill, we need more widely available mental health services.. No one else is thought to have been injured or killed, and the fighter jets did not fire . Will many of us have a better story to tell when we get to wherever were going, one Reddit user saidin a thread. Authorities said they did not believe he had a pilots license. On that day, Twitter[11] user @CityKing_Gank_ posted a clip of Patterson flying the plane over his town, garnering over 17,000 likes and 4,000 retweets in six days (shown below). This story has been shared 110,450 times. "[42] During his conversation with air traffic control, Russell said he "[knew] what [he was] doing a little bit" because he had experience playing video games. They deemed Russell the Sky King inspiring an outpouring of memes in his memorial and a possible . It seemed like he was well liked by the other workers. We had a ground stop for quite a while here, a dispatcher says. TikTok Influencers Son Murdered at Gas Station. "[16][19] He added that he "wasn't really planning on landing it. #seatac., A woman named Robanne Stading wrote on Twitter, #seatac airport is on a ground halt because evidently a mechanic is flying an unauthorized flightseeing trip around the mtns. [33], On November 9, the FBI stated that it had completed its investigation. No one else is thought to have been injured or killed, and the fighter jets did not fire on him, authorities said. There is the runway just about a mile off your right side, do you see that? Others said it was wrong to glorify him for an act that could have killed more people. It is impossible to encompass who he was in a press release. Powered by. Or he could have had grim plans to take his own life. Ah, minimum wage. The video was widely circulated online and by major news publications (shown below). "Heroes" - Peter Gabriel An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. In a final video that he posted to YouTube, Rich Russell showed an active life full of travel and adventure. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills caused crash into Island. The Sheriffs Department added, Two military F 15 chased plane but was not involved in crash and confirmed, No passengers on plane.. Cast Your Vote To Select The Meme Of The Month! Buy "Richard "SkyKing" Russell" by BogTron as a Sticker. Im in the air right now. Im going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. Below are some of the clips. Mr. Russell chatted, not too calmly, but coherently, with an air traffic controller during his solo flight. Russell was active in his local community, serving as a leader at Young Life, a Christian youth ministry. The story, despite seeming near-mythic, is true. His familys brief statement did not address any potential mental health issues. [20], On April 14, 2022, the FBI released 500 pages of previously classified documents related to the investigation. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle . Its burned quite a bit faster than I expected., He also said, Im gonna land it, in a safe kind of manner. Posted Sep 24, 2018. He was 29 years old and a member of the ground crew at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, earning minimum wage. Never really knew it, until now.". He was a quiet and well-liked young man who was active in his church. I'm listening through the archive of the radio chatter on the #seatac hijacking. He was married and completing a bachelors degree. Glenn Sullivan, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at the Virginia Military Institute and a clinical psychologist in private practice in Lexington, Virginia. At one point, Rich asked for help in getting the cabin depressurized, complaining he was getting lightheaded. The aircraft had been in maintenance status and was parked in an otherwise-vacant space for work on the plane's, New Footage Shows Moments Before Seattle Man Crashed Plane in 2018, A newly released video sheds new light on the moments leading up to Richard Russell crashing a plane. They turned him into a hero with the name, and with it came a lot of memes. In 1993, Lawnchair Larry Walters was named an At-Risk Survivor in the annual Darwin Awards. pic.twitter.com/ziBAYv7cgn, Jimmy Thomson (@jwsthomson) August 11, 2018. Although he didnt have a pilots license, Russell knew how to work the plane from his experience as an airport employee, the FBI previously said. This is "Sky King ~ Richard Russell" by Nibbus Jimmus on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them. On July 2, 1982, a . We were married one year later, and one month after that we opened a bakery which we successfully ran for 3 years, he explained on his website of his wife. He did it because he was depressed. As David Hume observed, our brains habitually seek out causation and are restless until a cause, even an erroneous cause, is determined. You can listen to more archived aviation audio on the incident here, some of which captures the mans voice: The site Airline Geeks.com reported, Reports saying that two F-15s have intercepted an Alaska Air Q400, operated by Horizon Air., The Twitter page Royal S. King wrote, On a lake in Tacoma and 2 F-15 have intercepted at @AlaskaAir Q400 south of @SeaTacAirport. Another man wrote, @flytruenorth Are you following this story? I hope they can make it through this. He said that airline employees go through background checks. Im going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. Full video form John Waldron on Facebook being shown on CNN #seatac pic.twitter.com/R98bl5uQBr. [37] During his communication with air traffic control, Russell made a complaint about wages, stating: "Minimum wage, we'll chalk it up to that. Residents of the island bore some of the cost for cleaning up, and negotiations were initiated for their reimbursement by Alaska Airlines' insurers. Our first date, he kind of cornered me into it, Hannah Russell said to the site. Knowing what you value will help you build the most meaningful life possible. You couldnt even tell it was a plane except for some of the bigger sections, like the wing section, western Pacific region chief Debra Eckrote said. I was born in Key West, Florida, and moved to Wasilla, Alaska when I was 7. Patterson did not end up flying the plane into Walmart, instead landing it in a nearby field where he was arrested. People expressed an emotional connection with him through postings on social media, T-shirts, and tribute songs. Excerpts taken from Mr. Ballen 's video on the Sky king.Top 3 stories that sound fake but are 100% real | Part 5:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaa53S-8lDMMr.Ballen's Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtPrkXdtCM5DACLufB9jbsAHIJACKED SEATTLE PLANE INSANE FOOTAGE, TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO, CRASH DAMAGE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeYVtVg6aGs Raw: Family Press Conference For Suicidal Mechanic Who Stole Plane In Seattle:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5fFJgdhBm4Stepbrother of Richard \"Beebo\" Russell talks about stolen plane incident:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FvRMhQ44kYMusicFrom Internet Archive, Public Domain MusicThe Pachelbel Canon: by Orchestre De Chambre Jean-Franois Paillardhttps://archive.org/details/lp_the-pachelbel-canon-and-other-baroque-favo_orchestre-de-chambre-jean-franois-paillard/disc1/01.02.+Canon+In+D+For+Strings+And+Continuo.mp3Pachelbel's Canon in D:https://archive.org/details/PachelbelsCanoninD Around 9 PM Pacific Time on August 10th, a 29-year-old man named Richard Russell, stole a Q400 airplane from Seattle Tacoma International Airport and went for a joyride into the abyss. They may not admit for a few days. [Im] just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. There wasnt anything particularly wrong with them. [24] Delayed by the SteilacoomAnderson Island ferry, firefighters from West Pierce Fire and Rescue and other nearby departments arrived on the island about an hour and a half after the crash, where they then contended with the island's thick brush. [7], SeattleTacoma air traffic control (ATC) maintained radio contact with the occupant. Now a family is left to reckon with tragedy, while strangers find grim inspiration in his final act. Rainier. Yeah I dont know what the burnageis like on a takeoff but yeah. He sounds just like anyone else would if they suddenly found themselves in a similar situation. "[43] Some co-workers said that Russell had probably trained himself to fly using amateur flight simulation software. Without Him we would be hopeless. My names Richard Russell, Im 27 and currently living in Sumner, WA with my incredible wife Hannah. Although official accounts other than through live aviation audio were hard to come by at first, many passengers took to social media to report that pilots were telling them a man had stolen a plane. #seatac pic.twitter.com/OVtJqphgqo. He preciously worked as a ground service agent at Horizon from 2015 to present. Hours prior, he posted a message on Facebook that seemed to imply he was going to commit suicide, writing, "Sorry everyone. Ah, Rich, dont say stuff like that, the controller said. In 2018, a Horizon Air employee, Richard Russell, stole a plane with no prior flying experience, making international headlines. The federal agencies will lead the investigation. The 2 Most Psychologically Incisive Films of 2022, The Surprising Role of Empathy in Traumatic Bonding, Two Questions to Help You Spot a Clingy Partner-to-Be. Ah, minimum wage. It may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe, but Beebo was a warm, compassionate man, the statement read. A week after Richard Russell stole a Horizon plane from Sea-Tac Airport and crashed it on Ketron Island, there are few hints about why he did it or how he was able to fly the aircraft. Plane is a Q4. Russell said to dispatchers, 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, according to some sites, Yeah right! KINGs Madison Wade reports. We decided to sell and move in 2015, because we were both so far removed from our families. A Port of Seattle official, Mike Pohl, said that Russell used an airport tractor to pull the parked plane onto a runway, which he would have known how to do, as part of his job in ground service was towing airplanes. SeaTac airport., Morgan Chesky, a reporter for KOMO News, wrote, Per JBLM source: After being contacted by F-15s, stolen plane began to nose dive, crashing in north Pierce County., NTSB investigator Debra Eckrote held a Saturday morning press conference, the day after the crash, and indicated that investigators are trying to determine what his process was and where the aircraft was going. She identified Rich as ground support so, you know, they have access to aircraft, and described it as lucky that the plane crashed on a very underpopulated island.. Radio banter in between, ending with the intercept audio for Rock 41 and Rock 42. suicidepreventionlifeline.org afsp.org AIRBOYD #SeaTac #ChambersBay #Q400 #Horizon. We believe there are no passengers on board. Oh, a purple one! Russell exclaimed. According to suicide prevention expert, Dr. Christine Moutier, middle-aged White men account for 70% of deaths from suicide each year. Tilden said that air traffic control was immediately aware that Russells take off in the aircraft was an unauthorized departure.. We are working back ground on him now, the Pierce County Sheriff wrote.