https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/11/us/plane ... index.htmlFamily of a man who stole and crashed a plane is 'stunned and heartbroken'
(CNN)Relatives of Richard Russell say they are "stunned and heartbroken" after the airline worker stole a passenger plane Friday from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and was killed when he crashed 25 miles away.
"This is a complete shock to us," the family said in a statement Saturday night. "We are devastated by these events, and Jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now."
The statement said Russell, 29, was "a faithful husband, a loving son and a good friend."
Referring to audio recordings of Russell talking to air traffic control during his hour-long flight, the statement said his "intent was not to harm anyone. He was right in saying that there are so many people who have loved him."
Russell, a Horizon Air ground service agent for three and a half years, was the only person aboard the plane, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said. The job of a ground service agent includes directing aircraft for takeoff and gate approach, handling baggage and tidying and de-icing planes, authorities said.
The incident, which the FBI's Seattle office did not consider terrorism, raises questions about airport security. [Ya think?]Investigators headed Saturday to the crash site to recover the plane's data recorders and Russell's remains as part of a criminal probe, authorities said.
The 76-seat Horizon Air turboprop plane took off without authorization at 7:32 p.m. local time Friday, with Russell, who was not a pilot, at the controls, officials said.
After Russell talked periodically with air traffic controllers for about an hour, the plane crashed at Ketron Island,officials said.
Video from a witness on the ground shows the plane at one point pulling up for a loop, putting the aircraft upside-down and then pulling back up just feet above a body of water.
Airports nationwide will now look at whether their security procedures need to change, CNN safety analyst David Soucie said. For one, Russell shouldn't have been able to board the plane alone, he said.
"There is a protocol to not allow anyone singularly to get onboard an aircraft," Soucie said. "If you're going to access the aircraft ... you make sure that you check with someone else, and that someone else (will confirm) that ... you have the right authority to get onto that aircraft."
A couple of things struck me in listening to the audio...
First major kudos to the Air Traffic Controller who was in contact with Russell. He could not have conducted himself in a more professional, calm and cool headed manner. Not the slightest bit confrontational or in any way inflaming to the situation; he did everything humanly possible to talk this guy down.
The second thing that's really striking to me is Russell's whole demeanor. Relaxed, casual, matter-of-fact, at times even jovial...
You would think you were listening to a guy telling a story sitting in a bar, not a baggage attendant doing barrel rolls in a stolen commercial plane...Only very occasional flashes of the kind of stress you would expect someone in this situation to be exhibiting...
It seems to me that everyone in this situation (except of course whoever it was who had responsibility for enforcing the rule that would have prevented this guy from being out there by himself in the first place) did their jobs in an exemplary fashion...
Within a couple of minutes fighters had been scrambled, and they could have shot this guy down at any time, but the people handling this sized-up the situation correctly very quickly (that this was not a guy with any sort of terrorist or score-settling intent) and acted with remarkable patience and restraint.
The fact that this ended with Mr. Russell dead rather than in custody is solely the responsiblity of Mr. Russell...
