The airline employee who stole a plane from the Seattle airport and fatally crashed onto a small island was not a licensed pilot
Kelly McLaughlin
8m
The airline ground agent who stole an empty commercial airplane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport, and fatally crashed into a small island in the Puget Sound was not a licensed pilot, officials said Saturday.
The man, identified to the Associated Press as 29-year-old Richard Russell, was a 3.5-year Horizon Airlines employee and had clearance to be among aircraft.
Russell, who is presumed dead, took the plane from a maintenance area at Sea-Tac after using a pushback tractor to turn the aircraft 180 degrees toward the runways, The Seattle Times reported.
Video from the incident shows the Horizon Air Q400, a turboprop plane that seats 76 people, doing large loops and dangerous maneuvers before crashing onto an island 90 minutes after taking off.
It remains unclear how Russell attained skills to do loops in the aircraft, or how he knew how to start the engine, which requires a series of switches and levers.
https://www.businessinsider.com/richard-russell-no-pilot-license-seattle-airplane-heist-2018-8