Whether he had ever flown a plane before, we just don't know.JENKINS: It appears not. As he does that, it appears he's about to crash into the water.
The fire danger is extreme. A 29-year-old Richard Russell stole a plane from Seattle's airport, flying for about an hour and a half before crashing on a nearby island.
Those are his words.JENKINS: Well, he knew enough to get the plane started, taxi it and get it airborne. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: A man believed to be an airline employee stole an empty plane last night from Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle.
Visit our website They were trying to get him to land. Most of the homes seem to be on the north end of the island. In 2018, he reported feature stories for NPR's business desk on topics including electric scooters, cryptocurrency, and small business owners who lost out when Amazon made a deal with Apple. And where the plane went down, it was in a forested area on this island where it didn't look like there were any homes in the immediate vicinity.SIMON: You circled the island last night - right? All rights reserved. No one else was on board, the airline said. I've seen Facebook video that appears to show him doing - going upside down in this plane. And then just after 9 o'clock local time, the plane crashed on that small island, caught fire. Seattle hijacker’s plane heist, midair stunts and fiery crash expose gaps in aviation security To impress a woman, he arrived in a helicopter to take her on a classified mission, officials said. But the fire from the crash did not spread far.SIMON: Well, there certainly are going to be concerns about somebody being able to steal a plane, particularly in these days of such concerns about security. He frequently covers breaking news for NPR.org and NPR's hourly newscast. NORAD says the F-15s did not fire upon the aircraft.
But during those communications with air traffic control, he did describe himself - and I'm quoting here - as "a broken guy with a few screws loose."
And he stayed airborne for about the next 60 to 90 minutes. Thomasville And at the last minute, he pulls out of that dive and keeps flying. There was smoke.
Now Playing It was just this man. Alaska Airlines, the parent airline to Horizon Air, put out a statement saying it believes this man was a ground service agent employed by Horizon. During this time, North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, launched those two F-15 fighter jets from Portland, Ore., to intercept the plane. They say that he took the plane from a maintenance position, which means that this was not a plane scheduled last night for passenger service. Planes in the Seattle area were temporarily grounded. Invalid Date, A MECHANIC stole a plane from Seattle airport and joked with air traffic controllers before crashing into an island. Now Playing Search Query Show Search
But he also apparently did some stunts while he was flying. Austin, thanks for being with us.JENKINS: Well, this all started about 8 o'clock Pacific Time last night when this man, who, as you said, was believed to be an airline employee, stole a Horizon Airlines Q400 turboprop plane. On Air And the man is presumed dead.JENKINS: Not much.