Thursday, August 10, 2023

Stealing an Airplane on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Richard Russell, 29, stole a Bombardier Q400 airplane on this day in 2018. The perpetrator was a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. Sea–Tac air traffic control made radio contact with Russell, the sole occupant, who described himself as a "broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess." About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell died by intentionally crashing the aircraft on lightly populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound.

There are quite a few incidents of this sort in the past, including one that happened in Australia on January 5 1977, where a disgruntled former employee of Connellan Airways (also known as Connair), flew a Beechcraft Baron into the Connair complex at the airport. The attack killed the pilot and four other people and injured four more, two of them seriously.


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