Posted on 04/14/2022 7:22:01 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has released more than 500 pages of previously classified documents about the investigation of a Horizon Airlines plane stolen from Sea-Tac Airport and crashed on Ketron Island in 2018 by a ground services worker.
One new piece of information that was released surrounded what was in a spiral notebook of 29-year-old Richard “Beeboo” Russell, who stole and flew an empty Horizon Air Bombardier Q400.
The FBI noted that Russell wrote about then-President Donald Trump and the effects his immigration policies were having. He wrote he had the desire to do something that would benefit all mankind.
Investigators said Russell worked alone when he was working as a ground service agent for the airline, and that he towed the turboprop out a hanger, climbed into the cockpit, and took off.
SNIP
Authorities said they saw no apparent security violations before he stole the plane, but Russell had been drinking a lot, resulting in his friends and family trying an intervention, of which they indicated he seemed fine afterward.
Days after the crash, one of Russells’ coworkers told KIRO 7 that they both had issues with being overworked and underpaid at Horizon Air, and he apparently learned to fly the plane from video games, but he did not know how to land it.
(Excerpt) Read more at kiro7.com ...
“he apparently learned to fly the plane from video games”
So I wasted all those hours of flight lessons?
Stepbrother of Richard "Beebo" Russell talks about stolen plane incident
Stepbrother
If you can take off AND land a plane without killing yourself, I’d say no.
He did. He pulled out of the gene pool...............
Apparently he didn't learn that part from a video game.......
Sad tale.
You know, maybe nobody agrees, but he sounded like he had a really funny sense of humor. When he said he wouldn’t go near the Air Force base because “They have missiles over there”. Glad he didn’t hurt anyone on the ground, but I wish he would have landed. Sounded like he would be a fun guy to have a beer with.
Likely he was looking at a few years in a psych ward and then he could have probably made a lot of money as a blogger, a contrarian youtuber, or giving motivational talks.
Tragic that a guy with that kind of spirit is gone.
They make a very vague reference to Trump and the effects his immigration policies were having.” Well, that’s about as clear as mud. Amazing how they always seem to find a way to link Trump to anything bad.
Yes, it's the first thing they note. Also his stance on immigration. The narrative is he was a Trump supporter and racist for his views on immigration. All other reasons are buried at the end of the story.
Passenger lands plane:
Of course it can be done. Flying an airplane is not particularly difficult. (*) Heck, if I could learn it - teaching an old dog new tricks - anyone can. It is a set of skills like any other set of skills. No-one is born a pilot, every pilot was at some point a student pilot on his/her first flight.
* - The gotcha for some people of a "certain generation" is that they would actually have to concentrate on one thing - flying. They'd have to put their phones down, focus on their scans, controls, procedures, actually talking-to and and listening-to ATC or another pilot on the radio trying to help them. They couldn't be looking out the window for racist statues going by, couldn't be wondering what their gender identity should be this weekend. They'd actually have to do something for real, right the first time, and there isn't going to be a participation trophy if they mess it up. So yeah, passengers could land an aircraft, but I have my doubts *all* passengers are capable of doing it... ;-/
I know!!!
The flying part is easier than driving!!! The landings not quite as easy!
I have always enjoyed flying, and my son got the bug too. He started at 15 and got his license before he was 18 (barely). He now does all the flying. I just ride along!!!!
But he has always been a better pilot than driver. Very much “By the book!”
Back in the day a USMC corporal stole an A-4 at MCAS El Toro, took a quick flight and landed successfully (if you apply that “if you can walk away from it” metric).
I always figured it was a remote controlled test, with possibly this guy being an informant or asset to Intelligence. Crash a plane, guy disappears, he moves to a new location and nobody is the wiser. Boeing has had autopilots that can takeoff and land a plane since the end of the 20th Century. It is called something like the Boeing Uninterruptible auto pilot.
Call me nuts, or a crackpot...but they just do have it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJCqhE2519E
In 1969, a homesick AF NCO stole a C-130 from the USAF base at RAF Mildenhall. He was trying to fly it home to the US but crashed in the English channel. Rumors persist that he was shot down by either the USAF or the RAF.
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