I’M A BROKEN GUY: WORDS OF A PLANE THIEF BEFORE FATAL CRASH
▶ ‘Suicidal’ Washington ground crew worker flew plane for an hour with military jets in pursuit
An airline worker who stole a passenger plane from a Seattle airport told air traffic controllers he was a “broken guy” but also joked about whether the airline would hire him as a pilot if he landed safely.
The man, 29, stole the twin-engined turboprop Bombardier Q400 plane belonging to Horizon Air from Sea-Tac International Airport in Washington state on Friday night.
He flew over Seattle for about an hour before crashing on an island in Puget Sound. No passenger was on aboard.
Two F-15s fighter jets pursued the plane but were not involved in the crash, officials said.
The crash occurred because he was “doing stunts in the air or lack of flying skills”, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said. It described the man as suicidal.
In audio recordings with air traffic controllers, the man said he did not want to disappoint them but that he was “just a broken guy. Got a few screws loose, I guess”.
The man, called Rich, said he was concerned that he was going to run low on fuel. Later, he said he had “got a lot of people that care about me”.
At another stage he said he did not want to land at a nearby military base because: “Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there.”
The sheriff’s department said they had launched an investigation into the man, whose surname was not released.
It described him as a airline mechanic but Horizon Air later said he was a ground service agent responsible for directing and removing ice from aircraft.
It was not clear how he was able to taxi the plane and take off without authorisation.
“OK, this insane. A pilot on the plane in front of us just went rogue and took off on an empty plane bypassing orders from the tower,” tweeted Ben Schaechter, a passenger on an aircraft that was about to take off when the incident took place.
Video on social media showed the plane flying above the Seattle area with an F15 fighter following.
Witnesses said the plane was chased by military aircraft before it crashed on Ketron Island, about 40 kilometres south-west of Tacoma, Washington.
The crash sparked a fire in dense forest. Flames lit up the night as they spread from the burning wreckage to trees.
The US Coast Guard sent a vessel to the crash scene, Petty Officer Ali Flockerzi said.
Horizon Air is part of Alaska Air Group and operates shorter routes throughout the US West. The Bombardier Q400 can carry 76 passengers.
Brad Tilden, the chief executive of Alaska Air Group, said the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI and the National Transport Safety Board were investigating the incident.