Ground Crew Worker Steals Plane and Flies

In 2018, a ground crew worker named Richard Russell

did the

unthinkable. No criminal record, no signs, no goodbye note,

just a man who showed up to work and decided he couldn't do it anymore.

He steals a plane, not to escape, not to fight,

but to fly. And for one hour, he's free.

I need you to call 911.

449, are you not supposed to be on that aircraft?

Uh, yeah. Uh, I did a, I did a kind of a bad thing, kind of a

selfish thing. Um-

... but it, it's all good. I'm gonna go check out Rainier.

Yeah, 449, so you hijacked the plane is what you're saying?

Yeah, I, uh, I'm afraid I did.

What the hell?

Holy shit.

Oh my gosh.

It's a fucking Alaska Airlines Q400.

What the fuck is he doing over here?

Uh, any idea if a, uh, Dash 8 Q400 can do a

barrel roll?

Just flying the plane around. Do you seem comfortable with that?

Oh, hell yeah. It's a blast, man. I played video games before, so I,

uh, you know, I know what I'm doing a little bit.

Nah, everything's peachy. Peachy clean. Just did a little circle around Rainier.

It's beautiful.

I think I got some gas to go check out, uh, the Olympics

and, uh, yeah.

Well, if you can see the Olympics, the weather's good.

I can see the Olympics from my window, and it looks pretty good over there.

All right, 'cause I, I hit, uh, something like turbulence around

Rainier, but there's no clouds hardly.

Oh, that's just the, uh, the wind blowing over all the bumpy

surfaces there.

Oh, copy that.

Man, have you been to the Olympics? These guys are gorgeous.

Holy smokes.

Yeah, I, I have been out there. It's, it's always a nice drive.

This is probably, uh, like jail time for life, huh?

I, I mean, I would hope it is for a guy like me.

Damn it, Andrew.

People's lives are at stake here.

Now, Rich, don't, don't say stuff like that.

No, I'm so ... I'm not ... I don't want to hear no one ...

I just want you to whisper sweet nothings in my ear.

Hey, Rich, this is Captain Bill here. We're still, uh, listening.

My airplane's doing, uh, just fine. How's yours?

I got a lot of people that care about me,

and, uh,

it's gonna disappoint them

to, to hear that I did this.

Um, I would like to apologize to each and every one of them.

Um,

just a broken guy,

got a few screws loose I guess. Never really knew it until

now.

Hey, pilot guy, can this thing do a, uh, a back flip you

think?

Well, I'd try to figure out how to use the

autopilot first.

If you were to do it, how would you do it?

Hey, you think if I land this successfully, uh,

Alaska will give me a job as a

pilot?

Uh, you know, I think they would give you a job doing

anything if you could pull

this off.

Yeah, right.

I think I'm gonna land it, um, like, uh,

in a safe, safe kind of manner. I think I'm, uh,

think I'm gonna try to do a barrel roll,

and if that goes good, then I'm just gonna nose down

and call it a night.

Victor Rock 41, uh, POI 1 just completed a barrel roll.

Rock 1, chief, confirm he did a barrel roll.

Affirm. He cleared the surface of the water by

approximately 10

feet.

We've got Rock 2 from Rock 1, and the POI 1 did a barrel roll and

just barely missed hitting the water.

All right, Rich, this is Captain Bill. Congratulations. You, uh, did that.

Now, let's, uh, let's try to land that airplane safely

and not hurt anybody on the

ground.

All right. Ah, damn it. I don't know, man.

I don't know. I don't want to. I was kinda hoping that was gonna be it, you

know?