CCTV footage showed moments before man stole plane and took it on doomed final flight
Footage of an airport worker stealing a plane from Seattle Airport has resurfaced.
The CCTV video was first released on YouTube back in 2022, four years on from the tragic incident itself.
Richard Russell was part of the on-ground staff at the American airport when he one day decided to steal an empty passenger plane and fly it around, with Air Traffic Control having no idea.
He didn't have a pilot license, but the Horizon Air worker was part of a tow team on the runway who were responsible for moving aircraft when it was ready to taxi, for about four years before the incident.
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Russell's actions shook the aviation world, as the haunting recorded communication between him and Air Traffic Control was also released to the public after the incident, which cost his life.
What did Richard Russell actually do?
CCTV footage shows the man making his way through security at the airport as he got his hands on an empty 70-seater Alaska Air plane.
He got full clearance to be on the runway at Sea-Tac International Airport, managing to take off in the plane on the evening of 10 August 2018.
Russell could be seen travelling across the Washington airspace for over an hour, with audio revealing that an air traffic controller tried profusely to get him to land the plane, though to no avail.
Instead, the airport worker could be heard making a number of harrowing claims over the radio, while performing a number of stunts with the plane in the air.
He could be heard openly admitting that he wasn't meant to be piloting the aircraft, and that he'd 'played video games before' so he had a 'little bit' of an idea of what he was doing.
What did the CCTV footage show?
In footage uploaded to YouTube by Inside Edition, Russell can be seen walking through airport security in a shirt that read 'the sky's no limit'.
Once he got outside, footage showed him towing the Alaska Air plane before positioning it towards the runway.
Shockingly though, the footage shows the plane moving forwards on its own after Russell unhitched the aircraft.
He can then be seen running alongside it, opening its door, getting on board and closing it behind him, all while the plane is moving slightly.
Within just five minutes, he can be seen taking off, where he told air traffic control that he'd got himself into 'a bit of a predicament', adding that he didn't plan to land the plane.
In the past, he'd uploaded videos on his job and what he saw as a baggage handler.
Russell somehow managed to get into the plane while it was moving (YouTube/Inside Edition)What was Russell's final radio message?
Even though he was presumed dead following a number of stunts in the aircraft, which was also being pursued by fighter jets, his death was confirmed when he crashed into the remote Ketron Island in the Puget Sound, Washington.
In audio that was released after Russell's stunt, he could be heard saying: "I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this,
"I would like to apologise to each and every one of them," he said.
"Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess, never really knew it till now," Russell stated.
He added that he might land it, before saying that he might do a barrel roll.
But the baggage handler then heartbreakingly said he wanted to go 'nose down and call it a night'.
The 29-year-old's family said they were 'stunned and heartbroken' by the events, with cameras catching the fiery flames of wreckage on the island soon after the crash.
No buildings were damaged.
Joshua Nair