A SeaTac Airport employee stole an Alaska Airlines plane on Aug. 10 and took off without permission before crashing on a nearby island.
How on Earth can something like this happen? An Alaska Airlines Dash 8 Q400 was stolen from its hanger at Seattle Tacoma Airport early in the evening of Aug. 10, and plane took off without permission of tower. Early reports indicate that an airport employee stole the jet, causing fighter jets to be deployed and all ground traffic was halted. One witness tweeted out, “Okay this insane. A pilot on the plane in front of us just went rogue and took off on an empty plane bypassing orders from the tower. The tower ordered a full stop and they’re trying to communicate with that pilot. Whaaaaaat!”
Residents of Tacoma then started posting videos of the jet flying dangerously low to the ground, and the jets trailing after it. Eventually the plane crashed in a remote wooded area of Ketron Island in Puget Sound, leaving behind a fiery pile of debris. The airline tweeted out that they are “aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400” turboprop plane, but “we believe there are no passengers on board.”
Its believed the pilot was killed in the crash, and authorities are still trying to figure out how someone could steal a commercial airliner and take off from a major U. S. airport unauthorized. It’s going to call into question how so many security measures failed for such a breach to happen.
Terrified residents took to Twitter to share their videos of the plane flying dangerously low to the ground. Everyone was so confused as to what was going on, because the plane was so low that the Alaska Airlines logo was totally visible. Radar showed that it flew in circles above Ketron Island before going down so maybe the pilot was trying to find a landing zone.
This story is still developing…..
