Joking tone belied grave stakes for Seattle plane thief

SEATTLE — He cracked jokes, complimented the professional demeanor of an air traffic controller and apologized for making a fuss.

But the friendly tone of a 29-year-old airport worker who stole a commercial plane Friday night, performing acrobatic stunts before the fatal plunge into a thick island forest, belied his desperate actions.

“I think I’m going to try to do a barrel roll, and if that goes good I’ll go nose down and call it a night,” Richard Russell said from the cockpit, according to a recording of his conversation with the controller.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Sunday that Russell died in the fiery wreckage, but whether the crash was deliberate or accidental is one of several topics remaining for investigators.

Others include how, nearly 17 years after the Sept. 11 attack, someone can simply take a passenger plane from a major U.S. airport without authorization. As risky as Russell’s move was, he could have inflicted vastly more damage had he been so inclined.

The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a turboprop that seats 76 people, owned by Horizon Air, part of Alaska Airlines. It had been parked at a cargo and maintenance area for the night after arriving from Victoria, British Columbia, earlier in the day.

Russell, a 3½-year Horizon employee, worked as a ground service agent. His responsibilities included towing and pushing aircraft for takeoff and gate approach, deicing them, and handling baggage.

Authorities said it’s not clear whether he had ever taken flight lessons or used flight simulators, or where he gained the skills to take off. The plane didn’t require a key, but it did require buttons and switches to be activated in a particular order.

His 75-minute flight during the golden twilight took him south and west, toward the Olympic Mountains. As a flight controller tried to persuade him to land, he talked of the beautiful view, and said he had a lot of people who cared about him, apologizing for what he was doing.

He said flying was a “blast” and that he didn’t need much help: “I’ve played some video games before.”

He also told the controller he “wasn’t really planning on landing” the aircraft, saying he was “just a broken guy.”