Passengers Report Stolen SeaTac Plane, Grounded Flights

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denverpilot said:
I’m strangely impressed by the split-S that low. I guess he had nothing to lose, so if he splatted he didn’t care, but I’ve seen crappier flying than that for sure. LOL.

RIP troubled dude.
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No way that was intended to be a split s. That was a roll that failed and he bought himself a few extra flight minutes? Kindly correct me if I’m wrong.
 
Mooney Fan said:
I just got caught up with this. Very sad indeed
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Agreed. Literally hearing a person completely break down. Just heartbreaking. I feel for his family and loved ones. The only slight plus is that he didn’t take anyone else out. I hope all involved can find peace, especially the ATC controllers who were in an impossible situation.
 
But, but he flew the video games OK. - Difference is with the game he hits "Reset" and doen't really die.
 
BrianNC said:
You sure he wasn't a pilot? One person on the video said he did a "loop de loop" and he knew something about flying it. You just don't take off in a twin turboprop and fly around without knowing anything.

It was an 'airline employee' but that's all they said.
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It’s happened before. Flying an airplane isn’t that hard, especially if you have ever tried a computer flight sim.

A friend of mine has a story about an non pilot A&P who stole a Lear on the east coast. Managed to fly it across the country and safely landed the thing. Then blew his brains out with a gun as soon as he parked it.
 
SkyDog58 said:
They already do background checks on everyone with SIDA access.
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Yep. Since several pilots have committed suicide-by-plane-crash, some in airliners, and some with passengers on board, I don't think that background checks are very useful. There is no way to stop a determined person, if that person has no regard for their own life.
 
How'd he figure out how to get the engines going?
 
Juliet Hotel said:
How'd he figure out how to get the engines going?
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Since he was a maintenance worker (kind of a generic description, we don't know whether he was an A&P or a toilet tank drainer), he may have actually started engines, etc. depending on his duties, or at least observed others doing so. He'd have access to operating manuals, for certain. Or he learned on a flight simulator.
 
I agree Kenny. Today’s flight sims are pretty accurate. I’ve been thinking this whole time that he was probably a sim guy. You don’t barrel roll a plane without having a clue how to do it. The split S he did, while probably a failed roll, was still executed without pulling till he stalled the plane. Maybe he really didn’t have a clue, but I’m thinking he did.
 
woodchucker said:
No way that was intended to be a split s. That was a roll that failed and he bought himself a few extra flight minutes? Kindly correct me if I’m wrong.
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He told the controller and the pilot talking to him trying to help him that he thought that was the end when he tried that. Sounded like it surprised him that he wasn’t dead and the airplane in the water.

He had previously said he was going to try various maneuvers and if they worked out then he’d just point the nose down and it would all be over.

It’s all in the recordings.

The controller did a pretty good job of trying to talk the guy off the ledge, but he had made up his mind before the wheels had left the ground and he wasn’t swayed by any suggestions of not doing it by the controller.

Controller would ask him to do something and he’d just key up and say “yeah” and continue doing whatever he wanted to do.

He’d made the decision to exit, stage left, before he ever lit off the engines.
 
I had the TV on and no sound and just say the vidio out of context...first reaction was nice split S but who ever did that was in trouble or selling airplanes...troubled is the answer...sad on so many levels...
 
denverpilot said:
He told the controller and the pilot talking to him trying to help him that he thought that was the end when he tried that. Sounded like it surprised him that he wasn’t dead and the airplane in the water.

He had previously said he was going to try various maneuvers and if they worked out then he’d just point the nose down and it would all be over.

It’s all in the recordings.

The controller did a pretty good job of trying to talk the guy off the ledge, but he had made up his mind before the wheels had left the ground and he wasn’t swayed by any suggestions of not doing it by the controller.

Controller would ask him to do something and he’d just key up and say “yeah” and continue doing whatever he wanted to do.

He’d made the decision to exit, stage left, before he ever lit off the engines.
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At least he didn't take out the Space Needle.
 
cowman said:
Two thoughts as we await information.

1. Hope he survived it

2. Please for the love of god I hope nobody comes up with any brilliant new mandatory security
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Almost guaranteed that there will be new mandatory security of some kind. I am sure they're already thinking about what to do.
FlyingElvii said:
Twitter saying the guy was a ramper, serving a plane parked at the remote stands. This is going to have BIG repercussions, folks.
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Yep
denverpilot said:
If this doofus ever went anywhere near a training facility, TSA will start having CFIs sign off on the mental health state of everyone we meet now, and keeping the records in our personal home filing cabinets for years.
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AMEs. They want it for guns, they'll want it for this.
SkyDog58 said:
They already do background checks on everyone with SIDA access.
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But that won't stop them or those that live in fear.
A1Topgun said:
But, but he flew the video games OK. - Difference is with the game he hits "Reset" and doen't really die.
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I would not be surprised at all to see restrictions be put on video games or sims to "prevent" someone from learning how to do this.
 
I will be interested to see what more gets released in the coming days, weeks, etc. Who exactly was he, what exactly was his job. Is there video/audio of him starting, taxiing, taking off. All the ATC audio currently online starts with him well airborne. At what point did ATC notice the aircraft moving without clearance.

I'm guessing he was just on whatever frequency the radio was last using, ground, tower, approach, etc.
 
I ramped for Horizon a decade ago when you did stuff like that to get a pilot interview (never got one before I decided I needed to make more than $19k/yr).

It was the most extensive background check I have ever had.

Rampers did NOT start engines and taxi planes. Maintenance crew yes, but moving planes from the north ramp was done with chosen ramp crews and a tow bar.
 
Guaranteed there will be some sort of additional security now. Might not be effective, but security theater will demand it.

Imagine if he had pointed the plane at the terminal building instead of the island.
 
I know better, but for kicks I watched one of the "news" broadcasts that is on Youtube. The had their aviation "analysts" on there. They were discussing the video of the air tricks he was doing. He said he has been on this type of turboprop before doesn't recall ever being on one doing a maneuver like that before.

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I'm sure there will be some sort of ineffective security theater added. The easiest thing would be thrust locks that only pilots have keys to, but then you have the issue of losing the efficiency of non-pilots taxiing aircraft.

Juliet Hotel said:
How'd he figure out how to get the engines going?
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Various ground staff are trained to start up and taxi aircraft for MX and the like. It is likely he knew how already.
 
Well we all know about the guy that was trying to fly to a rap concert last week. Maybe this guy wanted to see some grunge. Is that still a thing? All we can hope for is that he found his own little piece of nirvana at the end.
 
When I woke up and saw this today, I was boggled. Like something out of a movie or video game... It reminded me of watching someone mess around on Flight Sim. As a former ramp agent, I will tell you I certainly could have started the engines on the aircraft we worked around. The checklist is typically sitting there, and if you have a bit of smarts you will figure it out. There is also a study level simulation on this aircraft in flight sim that would aid in becoming familiar with it. Quite something to see. RIP to the troubled soul.
 
Perhaps this view won't be popular here, but I wish they had shot him down. The military guys here know better than I do - I'm know there's a lot to consider when making that kind of decision - but this ****ing clown just made life significantly harder for everyone else. I'm sorry about whatever mental health stuff he had going on, but this was an opportunity to make it clear what *should* happen when some dip**** decides to pull a stunt like this.

Now we just have a bunch of ATC audio that makes the guy look sympathetic. **** him.
 
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KING TV had the best coverage. The video link below has the Q400 inverted coming out of a barrel roll and then doing a fair imitation of Bob Hoover. In Seattle we were amazed it took over an hour for "breaking news" to hit national coverage. If you are on the West Coast, you really don't exist. Have the same thing happen on the East Coast and it would be breaking into national broadcasts.
The flight sim for the Q400 is pretty complete on MSFSX and if he was a ramper, he had plenty of time in the cockpit sitting around. A sad way to end a life early and I hope that the regulations that are coming are rational. It seems like can't let a single incident happen without thinking we have to regulate it. https://www.king5.com/article/news/...airport-crashed-on-small-island/281-582563371

Twitter is filled with people saying the video shows a loop. Nope. He entered it straight and level, rolled inverted, dished out on the roll out and let the nose drop as he recovered and dove down to the water. It looks like a Split-S but its just a roll that wasn't recovered at the end.
 
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kayoh190 said:
Perhaps this view won't be popular here, but I wish they had shot him down. The military guys here know better than I do - I'm know there's a lot to consider when making that kind of decision - but this ****ing clown just made life significantly harder for everyone else. I'm sorry about whatever mental health stuff he had going on, but this was an opportunity to make it clear what *should* happen when some dip**** decides to pull a stunt like this.

Now we just have a bunch of ATC audio that makes the guy look sympathetic. **** him.
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Agree 100%.
I would add that no matter how sad his situation is/was, every last innocent persons life on the ground was more important than his. Let him get over water, then blow his behind out of the sky.
 
kayoh190 said:
Perhaps this view won't be popular here, but I wish they had shot him down. The military guys here know better than I do - I'm know there's a lot to consider when making that kind of decision - but this ****ing clown just made life significantly harder for everyone else. I'm sorry about whatever mental health stuff he had going on, but this was an opportunity to make it clear what *should* happen when some dip**** decides to pull a stunt like this.

Now we just have a bunch of ATC audio that makes the guy look sympathetic. **** him.
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You reminded me of something one of my high school teachers said. A couple times in a short period, there were assassination attempts on President Ford. After the second one, my teacher (also a wrestling coach,) came into the room angry. "Damn it! I wish the Secret Service would have pulled out their guns and blown her brains out all over national TV! THAT would have sent a message!"
 
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