Music from Green Day, Michael Jackson, Queen, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Madonna, Pearl Jam, Fleetwood Mac, and more! 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. July 13, 1994. "Most importantly," he said in a voiceover about his job, "I get to visit those I love most. Win Tickets to Weezer with Spoon and White Reaper at White River Amphitheater on August 20th! Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? "Congratulations. The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a turboprop that seats 76 people, owned by Horizon Air, part of Alaska Airlines. Airline officials believe he was in uniform and worked a shift Friday, Tilden said. A Russian Air Force engineer made off with an Antonov An-26 transport plane from Kubinka Air Force Base near Moscow. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The worker performed several aerial stunts in the stolen aircraft before ultimately crashing on Ketron Island. Nearby co-workers weren't even aware of Russell's actions, which happened six hours into his shift, according to reporters. By Louis Lucero II and Melissa Gomez. 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. August 22, 1979. I feel really bad for Richard and for his family. After Russell talked periodically with air traffic controllers for about an hour, the plane crashed at Ketron Island,officials said. Domestic Flights, Airplane Door Rips Open Midflight on Russian Plane, Airport Worker Ingested Into Jet Engine, Dies, The Concorde Disaster, Battle Tanks, and More. As he flew the stolen 76-seat passenger plane above the Seattle area for nearly an hour on Friday night, Richard B. Russell was asked by an air . 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"But the air traffic controller had to tell him how to set what they call the 'bugs' -- they're just little, sort of, little levers, or little notches on your indicator for your heading, which is kind of basic. Late Friday, a Horizon Air employee believed to be Russell stole an empty turboprop plane, took off from SeaTac and crashed on Ketron Island, a small island in the Puget Sound that is home to about two dozen residents. Video from Friday showed the Horizon Air Q400 doing large loops and other dangerous maneuvers as the sun set on the Puget Sound. I don't want to. "This is a complete shock to us," the family said in a statement Saturday night. The FBI will lead the investigation, said Eckrote, the NTSB regional chief. 2. Russell flew the plane for over an hour before crashing. "I think I'm going to try to do a barrel roll, and if that goes good I'll go nose down and call it a night," Richard Russell said from the cockpit, according to a recording of his conversation with the controller. 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. Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there," the man responded, later adding, "This is probably jail time for life, huh? The Surveillance footage obtained by KOMO shows 28-year-old Richard Russell using a tow vehicle to pull a Horizon Air Q400 aircraft onto the tarmac before climbing into the . They said it's not clear whether he had ever taken flight lessons or used flight simulators, or where he gained the skills to take off. The Pierce County Medical Examiners Office has confirmed the remains belong to Richard Russell, who took the empty Horizon Air turboprop plane from Sea-Tac Airport. At one point, he apologizes and says he is a "broken guy" with "a few screws loose. Tragic as Russell's death was, he could have inflicted vastly more damage had he been so inclined. As the FBI investigation wrapped up earlier this week, West Pierce Fire and Rescue released some of the first footage from the scene through public disclosure. May 23, 1969. I don't know, man! They pursued the aircraft before it went down on Ketron Island, between Tacoma and Olympia. He said he wanted to create projects showing the contrast between his hard work on the ground and his high-flying free time traveling the globe. 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. he joked. One sketch that he posted included a drawing of a Q400 plane, the same kind of plane involved in Friday's crash. 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. SeaTac's tower began asking who was piloting the airplane, which culminated in the first of Mr Russell's exchanges with control that day. appreciated. That includes both domestic and international flights. Alaska Airlines flight 261 took off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the morning of August 10, 2018. Its the first time that weve had a commercial aircraft stolen off the ramp of an active airport, Steven Armstrong, vice director of operations for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told Rolling Stone. Air traffic control became suspicious of Mr Russell after he cut in the line for takeoff. The rest of Mr Russell's time in the air was well documented, thanks to his regular contact with SeaTac's tower. Horizon airline employee, 28-year-old Richard 'Bebo' Russell, stole a plane and took off before crashing into remote Pierce County island More Videos Next up in 5 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. Richard B. Russell reportedly stole a Horizon Air plane for a joyride before crashing and killing himself near Seattle. Also see | Cockpit audio from worker who stole empty plane from Sea-Tac Airport. 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. Foote served four and a half months in the brig and later went on to become a test pilot in civilian life. You did that. Kathleen Reichel said she watched the planes pass by for about two minutes. Video from a witness on the ground shows the plane at one point pulling up for a loop, putting the aircraft upside-down and then pulling back up just feet above a body of water. The black boxes will hopefully give investigators more clues as they try to figure out why Russell flew the plane into the ground. . Richard Russell Posted a Video on YouTube About Being a Baggage Handler Play VideoVideo related to richard russell, 'rich': 5 fast facts you need to know 2018-08-11T15:04:15-04:00 In a. He complimented the controller: "You are very calm, collect, poised," he said. In a final video project set to cheery music, Russell included selfies from airport grounds and photos from his many trips. On board was 29-year-old Richard Russell, a baggage handler for Horizon Air who is also flying the plane for unknown reason. But the plane slammed into tiny Ketron Island, a sparsely populated island southwest of Tacoma. Aug. 12, 2018. John Waldron was walking along a trail near the bay when he noticed the two military jets following a plane doing aerobatics. 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. "I always felt bad for the guys and gals who handled luggage. It's unclear exactly what Mr Russell is doing during this time, but he eventually takes control of a pushback tug and readies the Alaska Air plane for takeoff. Did you encounter any technical issues? "The greatest threat we have to aviation is the insider threat," said Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent and transportation security expert. The man has been identified as Richard Russell, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN on Saturday night. The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a turboprop that seats 76 people, owned by Horizon Air, part of Alaska Airlines. Witnesses described the surreal scene after the plane left the airport. Richard B. Russell reportedly stole a Horizon Air plane for a joyride before crashing and killing himself near Seattle. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. 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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Never really knew it until now.". His 75-minute flight during the golden twilight took him south and west, toward the Olympic Mountains. 7 months ago. The NTSB is now processing the equipment. Ultimately the FBI determined that Mr Russell intentionally brought the airplane into a dive onto a small island in Puget Sound, where he died. Hell of a crime spree for a 19 year old. Russell echoed those claims in his last conversation with air traffic control. I don't know! The sky thief Richard Russell captivated the audience's attention after the Authorities at the Port of Seattle released an airport surveillance video of plane stealing. Russell was recorded having multiple conversations with air traffic controllers who were trying to talk him into landing. The agency said that, had Mr Russell wanted, he could have recovered from the dive. "It's going to disappoint them to hear that I did thisJust a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess.". "Here we have an employee who was vetted to the level to have access to the aircraft and had a skill set proficient enough to take off with that plane.". New footage released by the Port of Seattle shows Mr Russell who worked as a baggage handler at the airport preparing the plane for takeoff. What happened from then, left a. The footage shows him going through security wearing a T-shirt. But the friendly tone of a 29-year-old airport worker who stole a commercial plane Friday night, performing acrobatic stunts before a fatal plunge into a thick island forest, belied his desperate actions. New video shows crash site of stolen plane. New surveillance. strangest, scariest, most bizarre events of 2018. In fact, there have been a number of occurrences in recent decades in which ground personnel made off with aircraft. Surveillance footage obtained by KOMO shows 28-year-old Richard Russell using a tow vehicle to pull a Horizon Air Q400 aircraft onto the tarmac before climbing into the cockpit on August 10, 2018. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but the F-15s did not bring the plane down, Eckrote said. Lastly, we've been reporting a lot only on the most famous case of suspected pilot suicide, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, and this weekend's tragedy bears at least a few similarities. The photos provided some of the most compelling images: tree trunks sheared in half by the impact of the crash and parts of the Horizon Air Q400 Turboprop littered throughout the debris field. "Russell had a few unexcused absences, but nothing considered significant.". 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.