A friend of Rich Russel did an AMA and answered questions on r/aviation as well (see graphic). The answers are very interesting. Archived links to reddit threads where he commented:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180813010314/https://www.reddit.com/r/casualiama/comments/96n2lb/i_knew_richard_russell_he_hijacked_a_plane_at/

https://web.archive.org/web/20180813010617/https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/96hnev/now_we_know_rip_rich/