2018 Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 incident

On August 10, 2018, a Bombardier Q400 operated by Horizon Air was stolen from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea–Tac) by 28-year-old Richard Russell, a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. Sea–Tac air traffic control made radio contact with Russell, the sole occupant, who described himself as a "broken guy... got a few screws loose, I guess." About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell successfully executed a loop before purposely crashing the aircraft on the sparsely populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound with the intent to die by suicide. There were no collateral human injuries; Russell was the sole fatality.

Incident

The aircraft was stolen from Plane Cargo 1 at the north end of Sea–Tac Airport and maneuvered to runway 16C via taxiways. Seattle Tower tried several times to get the pilot of the aircraft to identify himself but received no response. A nearby Alaska Airlines jet on the ground reported that the aircraft began a takeoff roll with its wheels smoking, and an unauthorized takeoff was made at 19:32 local time (02:32 UTC, August 11). In response, two McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagles of the Oregon Air National Guard's 142nd Fighter Wing under the command of NORAD were scrambled at around 20:15 local time from Portland Air National Guard Base to intercept it. Both were armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and reached supersonic speeds, which generated sonic booms on the way to the Puget Sound area. A KC-135R Stratotanker refueling tanker was also scrambled from Fairchild Air Force Base to support the F-15 flight. Flights in and out of Sea–Tac Airport were temporarily suspended.

Seattle–Tacoma air traffic control (ATC) maintained radio contact with the occupant. The transmissions were quickly recorded and posted on social media websites. The pilot said he was a "broken guy... got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now." When ATC suggested he land the plane at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, the occupant refused: "Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there. I think I might mess something up there, too. I wouldn't want to do that." He asked ATC if he could get a job as a pilot with Alaska Airlines if he successfully landed the aircraft. ATC said, "they would give you a job doing anything if you could pull this off", to which he replied, "Yeah right! Nah, I'm a white guy."

He spoke of wanting to do "a couple maneuvers to see what [the aircraft] can do", and requested the coordinates of an orca that had been brought to national attention, saying, "I want to go see that guy." He stated that he did not want to hurt anyone, and in the final minutes of the communication apologized to his friends and family. Near the end of the flight, the aircraft performed a barrel roll over Puget Sound, recovering approximately 10 ft above the water. A veteran pilot said the maneuver "seemed pretty well executed, without either stalling or pulling the wings off." When an air traffic controller requested he land the plane after this maneuver, he said: "I don't know. I don't want to. I was kind of hoping that was gonna be it, you know?" He added that he "wasn't really planning on landing it."

The two F-15s attempted to direct the aircraft toward the Pacific Ocean and did not fire at it. The Q400 ultimately crashed at 20:43 local time on Ketron Island in Puget Sound, Pierce County, Washington, killing Russell and destroying the aircraft. A tow boat crew was the first to respond. Delayed by the need to wait to catch the Steilacoom–Anderson Island ferry, firefighters from West Pierce Fire and Rescue and other nearby departments arrived on the island about an hour and a half after the crash, where they then contended with the island's thick brush. The fire burned a 2 acre area, but it was extinguished by the following morning. No injuries were reported to residents of the sparsely populated island even though the crash site was close to at least one cabin, which was occupied at the time of the incident.