Richard Russell was a suicidal airport ground services worker who stole an airplane from Sea-Tac . Heres hoping that the next Rich crashes on a couch of a good listener. I met Hannah in Coos Bay, Oregon in 2010 while we were both going to school, the about me section says. Maybe that will grease the gears a little bit with the higher-ups, he said at another point. He went sightseeing along the Olympic mountain range. It seemed like he was well liked by the other workers. We believe there are no passengers on board. He had planned to seek a management position at Horizon Air or become a military officer after receiving his degree. The plane started moving, but Russell jumped in the plane and took off. At one point in the dramatic audio, Richard Russell told the tower he was losing an engine. 0. I hope it doesnt ruin your day. Up until then, he had seemed torn between life and death, at least considering the possibility of attempting a landing or ditching the aircraft in the sea. This story has been shared 110,450 times. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed, the airport wrote. [12] Flights in and out of SeaTac Airport were temporarily suspended. Facebook Richard Russell plane crash video was released. The episode has also suggested that Russell was more complicated than the easygoing persona of his known online footprint. Hannah and Beebo met at a Campus Crusade for Christ gathering at Southwestern Oregon Community College last year, the site reported. [29] An operational supervisor for Horizon Air described Russell as "a quiet guy" who was "well liked by the other workers". The media also started sharing audio clips of ongoing conversations between Russell and an air traffic controller. Gary Beck, CEO of Horizon Air, told The Seattle Times it was impressive that Russell pulled off incredible maneuvers like a barrel roll with no flying experience. 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. The incident led to a dramatic and tragic night on August 10, 2018, as aircraft were grounded at Sea-Tac while fighter jets followed the man and air traffic controllers tried unsuccessfully to help him land the aircraft. Its gonna be crazy, he tells traffic control, according to the video provided to local Seattle news outlet KOIN. bit.ly/subAIRBOYD Various scanner recordings from liveatc.net and broadcastify.com SEA Ground, Tower, Departure/Approach. He spun a plane around Friday evening without raising suspicion and climbed aboard with 76 empty seats behind him. Russell, who worked for Horizon Air, a regional subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, flew the plane for 73 minutes before crashing it into remote Ketron Island, which has fewer than 20 residents. [39] He attended Wasilla High School, where he wrestled and competed in track and field. Apparently someone stole a plane from SeaTac? The FBI is investigating the stunning heist, which has raised concerns about the security of commercial aircraft and mental health issues among airline workers nearly 17 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. His conversation with controllers revealed limited experience. Rich, you said you had 2100 pounds of fuel left? the controller responded. [5] Seattle Tower tried several times to get the pilot of the aircraft to identify himself on frequency, but received no response. [7], SeattleTacoma air traffic control (ATC) maintained radio contact with the occupant. #SeaTac @king5 #ketron #dupont #andersonisland pic.twitter.com/78LC5PXKhU, Katreichel (@Katreichelart) August 11, 2018, The Sheriffs Department also wrote: Told F 15s made it within a few minutes of theft of plane. He sounds like a broken man who needed help. The incident aircraft was a Bombardier Q400, owned by Horizon Air (and operating for Alaska Airlines) with the registration N449QX[2][3][4] and serial number 4410. I lift a lot of bags. Hey all! Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. Monteith stated the men told him they were training to use the aircraft's auxiliary power unit so they could tow it, but said it was "suspicious" that they left when he confronted them. Its going to disappoint them to hear I did this, he hauntingly said before his death. People expressed an emotional connection with him through postings on social media, T-shirts, and tribute songs. Holy smokes, Ive got to stop looking at the fuel because its going down quick.. Im going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. As the voice recording shows, Beebos intent was not to harm anyone and he was right in saying that there are so many people who loved him.. [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. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose I guess. "Sky King" is a nickname given to 29-year-old ground service operator Richard Russell after he stole a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 airliner from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) and died after crashing on Ketron Island in Puget Sound. Sea-Tac airport confirmed the plane was down a short time later. [31][32] On August 12, the FBI said that it had recovered the flight data recorder along with components of the cockpit voice recorder. 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? About to take off. Maybe that will grease some gears a little bit with the higher-ups. 2007-2023 Literally Media Ltd. The Port of Seattle released the video. According to Eckrote, the plane is highly fragmented and she said that a background investigation is underway to further clarify Richs motive. An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. 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). [45] The aircraft was worth $30million, all of which was paid under the company's insurance policy "with no deductibles. [28] It described the perpetrator, identified as 29-year-old Richard Russell,[29][30] as suicidal and said his actions did not constitute a "terrorist incident". The incident spawned numerous image macros, photoshops and fan arts on 4chan and other online communities. I dont want to hurt no one. [20], Videos and radio transmissions of the event were followed online, immediately sparking a meme dubbing Russell the "Sky King". The fire burned a 2-acre (0.8ha) area,[23] but was extinguished by the following morning. Its not clear whether Russell, 29, had ever really flown a plane before. At one point, the controller suggests he might be able to get a job as a pilot after this and Russell replies, "Nah, I'm a white guy." To be honest with you, commercial aircraft are complex machines. | Then, about an hour after he took off, Russell plunged into sparsely populated Ketron Island 25 miles southwest of the airport, sparking an intense fire. So I dont know how he achieved the experience that he did.. On social media, Richard Russell used the name Beebo Russell. (If you need help, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.). They said the family is moving forward with the difficult talk of processing our grief and asked for space to mourn. August 10, 2021 by Kirk Forlatt. Oh, a purple one! Russell exclaimed. Nine-tenths of them are from a lower socioeconomic class. This incredible true story is the inspiration for SkyKing, a video installation and project created in summer 2020. Theyre not as easy to fly as, say, a Cessna 150, Beck said. Teachers are quitting and they will have no one to run their schools, but they still won't give in and support solutions that would hurt property values. Ive got a lot of people that care about me. Audio captured emotional conversations between the man, named as Rich, and air traffic controllers trying to help him land safely. Cast Your Vote To Select The Meme Of The Month! [12] His flight pattern was also shared online, with Twitter[13] user @RMaons writing, "SKY KING 2.0 ON FLIGHT RADAR, AIRCRAFT IS CALLED KING AIR LOOOL" (shown below, right). HiIm a ground service agent. A childhood friend remarked that Beebo was loved by everyone because he was kind and gentle to each person he met. 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. The hardest part of stealing a commercial plane from an international airport was already over for Richard Russell. Video related to richard russell, rich: 5 fast facts you need to know, Click to subscribe! Happening right now. sky king, sky king memes, richard russell, 4chan, sky king 2, based. Among the memes are images of Wojaks veering off into the sunset alongside quotes from Russell, a selfie of Russell sitting in the cockpit of the plane and video edits using audio clips from the conversation between Russell and the air traffic controller mixed with sad music and effects to emphasize the tragedy behind the event. USA TODAY. He attended Washington State Global University Campus from 2016-2017, seeking a bachelors degree in social science. The chilling footage of his final moments next shows Russell jumping onto the plane and presumably getting into the cockpit. 160. r/lostgeneration. Audio captured emotional conversations between the man, named as Rich, and air traffic controllers trying to help him land safely. In the audio clips, Russell calls himself "broken" and says he knows how to fly a little bit thanks to video games. Sep 09, 2022 at 02:47PM EDT Apparently someone stole a Horizon Q and is flying it over SeaTac. His performance there was a disappointment; he left for Southwestern Oregon Community College, where he met his wife at a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting. 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. Perhaps it was because the only life he seemed to have taken was his own. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Patient, new father among 5 killed in medical flight crash, Medical aircraft crash in Nevada leaves 5 dead: report, 5 dead in small plane crash in Little Rock, Human error eyed as cause of Yeti Airlines crash that killed 72 people. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed. Below are some of the clips. 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.. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. "[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. [37], Horizon Air CEO Gary Beck stated that, as far as the company knew, Russell did not have a pilot's license. We consider ourselves bakery connoisseurs and have to try a new one every place we go. His website is filled with photos and videos of his travels and was previously linked to his Instagram account. The plane was grounded for the night after returning from Victoria, B.C., which was its final scheduled flight of the day. After attempting the aircraft took off, two F-15 fighter jets were deployed. 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! Many people online compared the incident to 2018's incident with Richard Russell, calling Patterson "Sky King 2.0" or "Sky King 2. [9], On August 11th, 2018, journalist Jimmy Tomson tweeted out a series of audio clips in which Russell can be heard talking to an air traffic controller (shown below).[3]. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. RIP Rich. Hannah and Beebo met at a Campus Crusade for Christ gathering at Southwestern Oregon Community College last year, the site reported. On July 2, 1982, a . Thats McChord field, the controller tells Richard Russell. Other audio reported a ground stop was underway at SeaTac, the airport that services Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Hours prior, he posted a message on Facebook that seemed to imply he was going to commit suicide, writing, "Sorry everyone. It is impossible to encompass who he was in a press release. More recently, he listed his occupation as operations agent for Horizon Air at Sea-Tac since April 2018. In the coming days, articles about the incident were published in The New York Times,[4] CBS News[6] and The Washington Post. Human remains were recovered from the site, the FBI said Sunday, and Russell is presumed dead in the crash. For Richard Russell. He played athletics in high school in Wasilla, Alaska. Damnit Andrew, peoples lives are at stake here, Rich said at one point in the audio, which you can listen to later in this article. Its burned quite a bit faster than I expected., He also said, Im gonna land it, in a safe kind of manner. We know who he is. I feel really bad for Richard and for his family. This is not a terrorist incident. Plane is a Q4. This article was published more than4 years ago. At one point during the exchange, Russell said he knew how to put the landing gear down but that I really wasnt planning on landing it. Russel also told the controller that he was just a broken man.. "[21] When an air traffic controller requested he land the plane after this maneuver, he said "I don't know. Ah, minimum wage. I sure married a nice pair of calves! she joked with a photo of the couple. This is "Sky King ~ Richard Russell" by Nibbus Jimmus on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them. Updated Nov 30, 2022 at 4:37pm. It was recovered along with the cockpit voice recorder, authorities said Sunday, amid a streak of disintegrated debris. Russell, the sole occupant of the aircraft, perished in the crash. The flight data recorder may show how well Russell managed the aircrafts myriad functions. [4][6][9] A tow boat crew was the first to respond. He did a barrel roll in a stolen plane and went out in a blaze of glory. Reviewed by Ekua Hagan. [20] A veteran pilot said the maneuver "seemed pretty well executed, without either stalling or pulling the wings off. I met Hannah in Coos Bay, Oregon in 2010 while we were both going to school, the about me section says. When I heard that Mr. Russells aircraft had gone down, I thought, The poor bastard. And then I thought, How many tens of thousands of people are out there who are just like him?, Larry Walters and Rich Russell were people just like us. Rick Christenson, who was previously an operational supervisor with Horizon Air and who watched Russells flight over Puget Sound, described Russell to the Times as a quiet guy. It seemed like he was well-liked by the other workers, Christenson said. Richard Russell Steals a Horizon Air Q400 (Exclusive New Footage), On August 10, 2018, a Horizon ground operations employee by the name of Richard Bryan Russell Jr., stole a $32,000,000 Horizon Q400 airplane, N449QX, from the Cargo 1 / Line 1 area at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell died by intentionally crashing the aircraft on lightly populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound. Beebo was loved by everyone because he was kind and gentle to each person he met. It seemed like he was well liked by the other workers. Who Is The 'Sky King' Richard Russell And How Did He Earn His Title? We had a ground stop for quite a while here, a dispatcher says. They were born, they laughed, they struggled, they loved, and they died. Together, they started a bakery in North Bend, Oregon. To the consternation of friends gathered to witness the launch, he quickly ascended out of sight and climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet. Privacy, Richard Russell Who Stole Plane Near Seattle Raises Troubling Security Questions, Richard Russell Details emerge of a compassionate man after Seattle plane heist and fiery crash, Richard Russell pilot of stolen Horizon Air plane had lighthearted tone before deadly crash, Pilot arrested after threatening to crash plane into Mississippi Walmart and eventually landing in a field, police say, Pilot threatening to crash hijacked plane into Walmart in Tupelo, Mississippi.