airplane mechanic takes off from SeaTac in turboprop, crashes

This happened last night

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/live-updates-airplane-taken-from-seattle-tacoma-international-airport-crashes/

one basic thing that i don't see confirmed anywhere: did the guy who stole the plane die? i keep seeing indirect references - he was suicidal, no one else was injured or on the plane - but nothing that just confirms that they found his body and he's dead.

I don’t know if emergency personnel who responded to the island have confirmed yet but it seems like the person died.

local press conference just now said they have FBI agents out investigating the crash on the ground. waiting to find him to confirm?

There was one tweet about this from someone in a plane about to take off when the ground stop was called, so got to experience what it’s like for a jet to slam on the brakes at takeoff speed

Found this buried in a statement:

“We are saddened by the loss of a life in this incident, while being thankful that there were no other fatalities or injuries. We extend our condolences to this individual’s family.“

Have been in Seattle this week and actually heading to SeaTac now :/

crashed on Ketron btw, a tiny little island i'm not sure i'd heard of before now

Pop. 20

this story is both sad (the transcripts of the communications i've read are really a bummer, this guy sounded like a lost soul) and terrifying, i mean just at how he was able to actually pull this off.

Pretty much every aspect of our built environment assumes that insider threats are extremely rare and that most people are not going to do extravagant crimes of opportunity. These are pretty good assumptions! The exceptions are pretty dramaticX

the communication transcripts are really something

i wonder how easy it is to learn how to fly a plane using nothing but a microsoft flight simulator game and a manual. seems like you could learn enough from that to at least get a plane off the ground.

and yeah, the transcripts and the recordings are incredible, very surreal.

RIP white guy who wanted the orca coordinates

I mean for all the instruments and flaps and stuff, I’m pretty sure taking off and flying is just throttle open, nose up, don’t stall out.

i was waiting to get off a plane as this was happening. airport aftwrward was resignedly quiet

Tim Orr, who also works at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, and who said he had known Mr. Russell since they were both 12, said his friend had been frustrated that his airport job did not pay the $15 minimum wage that many other airport workers receive, and had talked about leaving to do something else. But Mr. Russell, his friend said, also loved the travel opportunities that came with working for an airline.

Mr. Russell and his wife were active church members, Mr. Orr said, “so he doesn’t really fit the bill of someone who would steal an airplane.”

“Funniest person in the room,” he added. “Nicest person in the room.”

how he was able to actually pull this off

Taking off in a private plane is cake. Flaps half down, throttle high, brakes off, keep the nose down until rotate speed, don't pull up and stall, adjust rate of climb with throttle. It's landing that requires a bit of practice.

xp ftr badly written $15-now initiative that exempted some airport employers within the city of SeaTac

Reading quotations from the ATC transcripts in a couple articles is making me very sad for this person. What a surreally beautiful thing to do, what an awful way to go.

I have no idea if something was really off or if he followed some impulse and was communicating really erratically because he had no idea what to say. Can you imagine following a ridiculous impulse, and suddenly you're trying to talk to someone who is coaching you through landing a plane you apparently... took? Hijacked isn't even right, because he didn't do anything by force. He just took a parked plane.

I've been on that model of plane several times on a different airline. They're pretty sweet, a lot like the puddle jumper little jets that go from regional airports to hubs, but turboprops just seem cooler. I think if you had to take a joyride in a plane, that's a good choice.