BOSTON (WHDH) - Security footage of a plane being stolen and flown off a Seattle tarmac has been released years after the incident made national headlines.
Richard Russell, 29, was a ground service crew member who snuck past security and stole an Horizon Air plane in 2018. Russell was able to take off and fly the plane for a time before crashing it into a remote island southwest of Tacoma.
Newly released footage captured the moment he was able to enter the Seattle-Tacoma Airport employee security checkpoint wearing a shirt that read “The Sky’s No Limit.”
Russell spent five hours inside the airport before he managed to tow an empty Bombardier Q400 into position and released the vehicle.
The footage showed Russell running up to the plane as it rolled away, opening the cabin door and jumping in within seconds, closing it behind him.
The 29-year-old then flew the plane for over an hour and told air traffic control that he “wasn’t really planning on landing” it.
He described himself as “just a broken guy” and eventually crashed the aircraft into Ketron Island.
The FBI determined the crash was intentional and that terrorism was not the motivation
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