An airline worker stole an empty Alaska Airlines plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington on Friday night, and the National Guard scrambled two fighter jets to chase the aircraft, which crashed on a sparsely populated island in Puget Sound, officials said.
No passengers were aboard the 76-seat Horizon Air Q400 turboprop plane, which was stolen by a 29-year-old Horizon Air ground service agent from Pierce County, according to airline and law enforcement officials. Horizon Air is a subsidiary company that operates Alaska Airlines aircraft.
The man was described as suicidal, and it appeared impossible that he could have survived the crash. Authorities said there was no indication that the crash was a terrorist incident.
The plane made an unauthorized takeoff from the airport around 8 p.m. and crashed on Ketron Island, about five miles southwest of Tacoma, after the renegade pilot bantered erratically with air-traffic controllers who pleaded with him to land the plane, according to officials and dispatch audio.
“This is probably jail time for life, huh?” said the man, identified on the radio as Rich, according to dispatch audio reviewed by the Seattle Times. “I would hope it is for a guy like me.”
“Oh, Richard,” said an air-traffic controller, “We’re not going to worry or think about that. But could you start a left turn please?”
The employee added: “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it, until now.”
At another point, the employee said: “I’m gonna land it, in a safe kind of manner. I think I’m gonna try to do a barrel roll, and if that goes good, I’m just gonna nose down and call it a night.”
Video posted by witnesses on social media showed the plane making a barrel roll over what appears to be Puget Sound, with some people crying out in terror as the plane exited the roll in a dive toward the water, before barely pulling up in time and flying away.
Blake Peterson
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! He’s OK? He’s OK,” one woman said in a video posted on Facebook, which showed at least one military jet in pursuit. It’s not clear how long afterward the plane crashed.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department tweeted that it was “not a terrorist incident” but that F-15 fighter jets had scrambled out of Portland, Ore., to intercept the passenger plane. The FBI issued a statement saying that “information gathered thus far does NOT suggest a terrorist threat or additional, pending criminal activity.”
The fighter jets were traveling so quickly that at least one of them broke the sound barrier and caused a sonic boom that some people in the vicinity mistook for an explosion, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
“The responding fighter pilots flew alongside the aircraft and were ready to do whatever was needed to protect us, but in the end the man flying the stolen plane crashed on Ketron Island,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement, adding that the jets belonged to the Air National Guard from Washington and Oregon.
“Those pilots are trained for moments like tonight and showed they are ready and capable,” Inslee said.
Alaska Airlines said “it does not appear that these [military] jets were involved in the crash of the Horizon aircraft.”
Kevin Martinez
The plane crashed in a wooded area on Ketron Island and did not hit any structures, according to an Alaska Airlines statement. Ketron Island is primarily forested and undeveloped, with a few homes toward the north end of the island, according to a Pierce County website.
Helicopter footage from KIRO-TV showed flames on Ketron Island where the plane was believed to have crashed.
Fire crews had to board ferries to reach the blaze, according to KING-TV and the West Pierce Fire and Rescue.
The Sheriff’s Department directed inquiries to the FBI, indicating federal law enforcement officials would be taking a primary role in the investigation into how the incident unfolded.
The plane had been in a “maintenance position” and was not scheduled for passenger flight when it was stolen, according to a statement from Alaska Airlines.
“Our hearts are with the family of the individual on board as well as all our Alaska Air and Horizon Air employees,” Horizon Air Chief Operating Officer Constance von Muehlen said in a video statement.
According to a Horizon Air job posting, ground service agents “play a critical role to keep our flights running smoothly and safely. Whatever the weather, you’ll direct aircraft for takeoff, gate approach, load and unload luggage, and operate equipment to de-ice planes in the winter.”
Lucas Bell
Why the fuck do we still shit our panties over le terrorists? Shouldn't we be more concerned that there are just straight up suicidally depressed people out there who can endanger society. Wtf are we going to do if one day some depressed autistic virgin at a nuclear power plant decides to overload the reactor and cause Chernobyl 2?
Nicholas Lewis
Praised be the skyking, the Evel Knievel of airplane thieves, real life Fox McCloud, the only good thing that happened on 11/08/2018.
Jacob Cooper
It seems like in this case, they were. They still had to scramble jets in case he came back to down the plane in a populated area.
I am very surprised, I would have expected the media to lie and tell that it was a terrorist attack so next week the army can start invading one more random muslim country and a new law can be pass to have cameras in every house, I mean, it always worked like this for over fifteen years now.
Bentley Campbell
Because they have a lot of organizational help and funding from whatever organisation they are terroristing for.
Its OK m8 they shut down chernobyl in 2000.
Noah Gomez
I know you really wanted this to work in your favor, but he was flying away from the US into the Pacific. Nobody gave a shit except for Alaska Airlines who owned the plane.
Thomas Hernandez
Sorry Zig Forums but he was a white man who has been browbeaten by your kind for too long. All of us have. And it's only going to get worse for you when we turn our anger and frustration to where it should be
Yes, Jim is creepy. Lel @ pic related! He thinks the Kitty Cartel is Johnny. You can't tell your friends from your enemies, can you, mod! That's what happens when you let emotions guide your conduct.
Congratulations on the paranoid schizophrenic thing
Cooper Reed
Not surprisingly, your disorder is more often recognized in female schizophrenic patients than in male schizophrenic patients….
Which indicates that you are effeminate
Samuel Jackson
How long has it been since you first realized that you were sexually attracted to other men, and even more importantly, when was the last time you took your medication?
Levi Green
aww no 9/11
Connor Butler
In other news, Johnny and his boyfriend have a baby boy. Diana Printz was their surrogate. It's front page news. Go check! An insider is starting to spill the secret magic beans in that thread right now.
Levi Ortiz
>Shouldn't we be more concerned that there are just straight up suicidally depressed people retards who trust and take their SSRI (((medications))) fixed
Blake Cook
Just, kys.
Hunter Sanders
you're literally insane
Isaac Ramirez
Bipolar disorder is instant disqualification from a pilot's license of any level without being given an exception by FAA medical personnel.
t. On my way to getting my license.
Jaxson Richardson
Sounds good, but Chesley Sullenberger, who safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the middle of the Hudson River was diagnosed with manic depression in 1993, and many other pilots have also been diagnosed with the same psychiatric condition.
Which just goes to prove that you are a fucking idiot who believes everything that you read.
