The « suicidal » mechanic who commandeered and crashed a plane without passengers from a US airport in Washington state seemed excited, confused, and at times calm while talking with the air traffic control tower.
The « suicidal » mechanic who commandeered and crashed a plane without passengers from a US airport in Washington state seemed excited, confused, and at times calm while talking with the air traffic control tower.
The 29-year-old man identified as « Rich » or « Richard » flew out of the Seattle-Takoma airport with a twin engine, 76-seat turboprop Bombardier Q400 belonging to Horizon Air at around 8 pm Friday (0300 GMT Saturday).
Two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled as « Rich » flew the passenger plane in an aerial loop, then headed south. He died when the plane crashed after a 90 minutes « joy ride. »
The local sheriff’s office quickly described him via Twitter as « suicidal, » but audio from his conversation with the Sea-Tac control tower portrays a more complex picture.
« Rich » said in a matter-of-fact way that he fueled the airplane « to go check out the Olympics, » according to audio posted by The Seattle Times newspaper.
Map of the US state of Washington locating the crash of an airplane without passengers stolen by a mechanic from Seattle-Tacoma airport
AFP, AFP
He then expresses about fuel — it « burned quite a bit faster than I expected » — as the air traffic control officer gently tries to direct him to a nearby military base.
« Oh man, » « Rich » answers. « Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there… They probably have anti-aircraft. »
« They don’t have any of that stuff, » the air-traffic controller assures him. « We’re just trying to find a place for you to land safely. »
« I’m not quite ready to bring it down just yet, » the pilot says.
« This is probably jail time for life, huh? » he asks. « I would hope it is for a guy like me. »
« Oh, Richard, » the controller responds. « We’re not going to worry or think about that. But could you start a left turn please? »
Later on the pilot says: « 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 apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it, until now. »
