Man who stole plane and took it on doomed final flight shared last message to family over radio before death
A man who stole a plane and took it on an unauthorised flight before plunging to his doom left an emotional message to his loved ones from the cockpit.
Back in 2018, Richard Russell stole an empty passenger plane from Seattle Airport, USA, to take it on a joyride while making a harrowing admission to air traffic control.
The Horizon Air ground service agent from Sumner, Washington, didn't have a pilot licence, having been part of a tow team on the runway, which repositions aircraft once it's time to taxi, for around four years.
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Russell was presumed dead after performing a number of stunts in the aircraft and being pursued by fighter jets, before he crashed into Ketron Island in the Puget Sound, Washington on August 10, 2018.
He had full clearance to be on the runway at Sea-Tac International Airport, using a pushback tractor machine to board the Horizon Air Q400 after moving it, taking off in the evening and travelling across the Washington airspace.
Audio recordings from the flight reveal an air traffic controller trying to get him to land the plane, though Russell resisted.
In what is recorded as his final conversation, he said that he knew his actions would let his loved ones down, in a recording broadcast by ITV.
Speaking to air traffic control while in the air, Russell 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 admitted.
He went on to say that he might land it, before adding that he might attempt a barrel roll before wanting to go 'nose down and call it a night'.
The 29-year-old's family said in a statement that they were 'stunned and heartbroken' at the man's crime and death.
Nicknamed Beebo, they said that he was 'a faithful husband, a loving son and a good friend', adding: "It may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe, but Beebo was a warm, compassionate man."
Videos captured of the incident showed fiery flames on the island, which was only sparsely populated, with no buildings on the ground damaged.
Former FBI agent and transportation expert Erroll Southers told The Associated Press: “Here we have an employee who was vetted to the level to have access to the aircraft and had a skill set proficient enough to take off with that plane.
“If he had the skill set to do loops with a plane like this, he certainly had the capacity to fly it into a building and kill people on the ground,” he claimed.
Federal investigators clarified that the plane broke into several pieces, while Debra Eckrote, a regional chief with the National Transportation Safety Board, stated that the wings were off the plane and the fuselage was upside down.
Joshua Nair