Plane stolen & crashed

A suicidal mechanic stole a propeller airplane at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport on Friday and crashed it into a nearby island, authorities said.

The craft belonging to Alaska Airlines’ regional carrier Horizon was swiped and crashed into Ketron Island southwest of Tacoma, officials said.

“We’ve confirmed a Horizon Air Q400 that had an unauthorized takeoff from SeaTac around 8pm has gone down near Ketron Island in Pierce County, WA,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement.

The local sheriff ’s office said the person who stole the plane was plan- ning to kill himself.

“Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence,” the Pierce County Sheriff ’s Office tweeted.

Two F-15 fighters were scrambled and all SeaTac flights were briefly grounded, the Tacoma News Tribune reported.

When one of the F-15s made contact with the rogue pilot, the plane took a nose dive and crashed, a source at Joint Base Lewis–McChord Air Force Base told KOMO.

The F-15 pilots reached the rogue flier within minutes and steered him away from populated areas, the sheriff said.

“This is not a terrorist incident. Confirmed info .. this is a single suicide male,” the sheriff ’s office tweeted. “We know who he is. No others involved.”

Fire and rescue crews rushed to the crash scene.

“What we have is that someone stole a plane from Alaska Airlines,” Pierce County Sheriff ’s spokesman Ed Troyer told the News Tribune.

“We have multiple 911 calls, over 30, reporting a fireball. Witnesses said and Alaska Airlines plane is going down. We have police boats, we have everybody responding . . . Hopefully it is just a stolen plane with one pilot and no passengers.”