Richard Russell a 29-year-old employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport decided to take a plane for a 75-minute flight by himself. Never having flown a plane before — but having "played some video games" — near the end of the flight, Russell needed help. Air traffic control suggested helping him fly to McChord air force base and safely land the plane, though Russell was scared he would "mess something up."
Russell was able to steal this plane because his three-and-a-half years of experience allowed him to be in close proximity with the planes, and with lack of cockpit security, all Richard had to do was activate the appropriate switches to get the plane in the air. After hearing the black box recording of Richard Russell's conversation with the air traffic controllers, it was clear Richard had not thought through what he had decided to do.
The air traffic controllers did, however, stay extremely calm while trying to handle the uncommon emergency situation. With a pilot who doesn't know how to land a plane, it's hard not to panic when thinking of all of the possibilities of how it could end. If the plane crashed in a populated area, there could have been a large number of fatalities. The air national guard was able to fly planes alongside the plane Richard Russell had taken to try to avoid any major incidents.
Sadly, Richard Russell crashed the plane and did not survive. Authorities recovered the black box and Russell's remains from the scene. Many are saying Russell may have been suicidal. During the recording, he did sound full of regret and slight sadness — but also sounded like someone who was just started to realize the weight of the situation he got himself into, not someone who wanted to die in the first place. He said he was a "broken guy" and had "some screws loose."
Just because we do stupid things, or don't realize the extent of our consequences, that does not mean we wanted the imminent outcome. Richard Russell could have felt great when he took the plane, adrenaline running through his system, and the freedom he felt from doing something so irrational. Although his family may regret the decision he made, we have no way of knowing that he would've felt the same way.
What we do know is that it did create panic for everybody else all involved, quite a few resources also had to go into making sure this flight didn't go awry, but it didn't end with a catastrophic number of fatalities, although there was one unfortunate death.
We do need to remember that Richard Russell helped authorities keep the plane from a highly populated area, and no one should forget that. Any articles or writers making fun of Russell or insulting him for his decision should think again because it could've been a lot worse and we'll never know what was going through his head before and during the flight.
