Better Audio Provided By RosalindJ – HERE
@KING5Seattle here’s a video of the hijacked plane and fighter escort from Steilacoom in the ferry line for anderson Island pic.twitter.com/8fgAUe05xv
— Kai Simpson (@Kai_AHS) August 11, 2018
An airport mechanic allegedly hijacked a plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday night right before it crashed into the Puget Sound in Washington.
The man, who was called Rich by air traffic control personnel, is an Alaska Air Horizon employee who allegedly stole a Horizon Air Q400, shutting down the airport temporarily.
In a statement released on Twitter, Sea-Tac Airport confirmed the reports of an “unauthorized takeoff.”
“An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without permission at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound,” the tweet read. “Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, Alaska Airlines said, “We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400.
Pierce County Sheriff said the hijacking was not a “terrorist incident”.
“Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29-year-old Pierce county residence [sic],” the department tweeted.
Here’s the full broadcastify recording, if anyone is inclined. He speaks that piece about two minutes in.
I haven’t listened to the entire thing. Not sure I want to. That remark “Nah..I’m a white guy” is haunting.
http://garchives1.broadcastify.com/15227/20180810/201808102255-590200-15227.mp3
Turn off my phone to watch a movie and a what? Had friends flying Alaska to Alaska stuck in SeaTac for awhile as this was happening. News says he was a mechanic but he had to have training as he did a successful barrel roll over the Puget Sound.
Sad. Crazy. We may never know the true story.
I guess he wanted to make a big splash.
I learned of the crash while I was talking to another guest at a party tonight. She is a risk management consultant to large businesses and gov’t agencies. Said this was going to be a big headache for the Port of Seattle, who, like many other ports, have not developed or enforced tight enough systems of internal controls that would have helped prevent this. There are a lot of people who work the ramp and who have unrestricted access to airplanes, just as this guy did. Seems outrageous that just about anyone who has ramp access would be able to do this. Didn’t they learn anything from 9/11?! The only good thing about any of it is the aircraft was empty and he didn’t kill anyone else when it crashed.
Somebody really needs to make a law requiring a license to fly those things so this never happens again. Think of the poor little chitlins.
Time to require planes have ignition keys.
So just wait for the MSM to whine about flight simulators on home computers. Heck, I have the payware Q400 and can barrel roll it in my skivvies.
How many times must this happen before action is taken? We need an aircraft ban NOW!
He was a “white guy” working on the ground crew at SeaTac? Well then he had to be the ONLY white guy working on the ground crew at SeaTac. I’ve been there. They are as scarce as unicorns.