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A ‘SUICIDAL’ AIRLINE employee stole an empty Horizon Air turboprop plane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle, Washington, and was chased by military jets before crashing into a small island in the Puget Sound, according to local officials.
Preliminary information suggests the crash occurred because the 29-year-old man was “doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills”, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, said on Twitter the man was suicidal and there was no connection to terrorism.
Video showed the Horizon Air Q400 doing large loops and other dangerous manoeuvresas the sun set on the Puget Sound. There were no passengers aboard. Authorities initially said the man was a mechanic but Alaska Airlines later said he was believed to be a ground service agent employed by Horizon. Those employees direct aircraft for takeoff and gate approach and de-ice planes.
Witnesses reported seeing the plane being chased by military aircraft before it crashed on Ketron Island, southwest of Tacoma, Washington. Troyer said F-15 aircraft scrambled out of Portland, Oregon, and were in the air “within a few minutes” and the pilots kept “people on the ground safe”.
The sheriff’s department said they were working to conduct a background investigation on the Pierce County resident, whose name was not immediately released.
Not scheduled for flight
The aircraft was stolen about 8 pm local time. Alaska Airlines said it was in a “maintenance position” and not scheduled for a passenger flight. Horizon Air is part of Alaska Air Group and flies shorter routes throughout the US West. The Q400 is a turboprop aircraft with 76 seats.
Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said the man “did something foolish and may well have paid with his life”.
The man could be heard on audio recordings telling air traffic controllers that he is “just a broken guy.”
An air traffic controller called the man “Rich”, and tried to convince him to land the airplane.
“There is a runway just off to your right side in about a mile,” the controller says, referring to an airfield at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“Oh man. Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there,” the man responded, later adding “This is probably jail time for life, huh?”
Later the man said: “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this… Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess.”
Flights out of Sea-Tac, the largest commercial airport in the Pacific Northwest, were temporarily grounded during the drama.
Sparsely populated
The US Coast Guard sent a 45-foot (14-metre) vessel to the crash scene after witnesses reported seeing a large plume of smoke in the air, Petty Officer Ali Flockerzi said. Video showed fiery flames amidst trees on the island, which is sparsely populated and only accessible by ferry.
Alaska Airlines said no structures on the ground were damaged.
Royal King told The Seattle Times he was photographing a wedding when he saw the low-flying turboprop being chased by two F-15s. He said he didn’t see the crash but saw smoke.
“It was unfathomable, it was something out of a movie,” he told the newspaper. “The smoke lingered. You could still hear the F-15s, which were flying low.”
“Our hearts are with the family of the individual aboard, along with all of our Alaska Air and Horizon Air employees,” Horizon Air Chief Operating Officer Constance von Muehlen said in a video posted on Twitter.
Spokesmen for the Transportation Security Administration, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration directed inquiries to local authorities.
Governor Jay Inslee thanked the Air National Guard from Washington and Oregon for scrambling jets and said in a statement “there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding tonight’s tragic incident”.
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One the plus side if you are paying rent and childcare at the moment and are waiting for the government to sort it out; you can actually survive for a pretty long time on baked beans and seaweed. So, every cloud…
@Hugh Morris: Oh yes. All that.
A very thorough article highlighting the huge issue of childcare in Ireland. My son is starting creche in July, I was very lucky to get him a place through sheer persistence. I was on 22 waiting lists & now it’s going to cost more than our mortgage. The government needs to do A LOT more to help parents
I think childcare costs vary massively outside of Dublin. I know some people paying €150 pw in the west and others paying €800pw in Dublin. The whole thing needs complete overhaul and needs to be regulated and subsidized so it’s affordable for parents and worthwhile for the Childminder.
@Edward Reid: I am aware of a childminder who is minding 4 children. One toddler from early morning and 1 child from 12.30 and two older children from 2 and 3pm respectively. Drop offs and pick ups are required. Children minded in their own home. 7/8 hour days. She is getting a daily rate of 50 euro per day. No breaks during the day, no paid annual leave, no paid sick leave. Parents decide on days required each week. If they don’t need the childminder she doesn’t get paid. Parents complain of lack of child care services but when families have very qualified child care services they under value it completely. Needs complete overhaul
@Sinead O Donnell: If she’s minding the kids in their own home then the parents are her employer and have all of the fun legal obligations that come with that.
If she’s paid €50 a day that seems lower than minimum wage for a start (I don’t know her hours)
It’s not really the system that is wrong there. It’s that she’s getting paid cash in hand (I’m assuming there) and this is absolving her of her rights and the parents of their obligations.
https://www.revenue.ie/en/life-events-and-personal-circumstances/children/registering-child-minders-as-employees.aspx
@Michael O’Neill: I agree with most of the content of your reply. Unfortunately as she minds kids in their home, she cannot register as self employed and as she is not a live in nanny, the childrens parents are exempt from revenue obligations. In this case the child minder falls within the cracks of a very inefficient system.
Genuine question, (I don’t have children), Why is Childcare so darn expensive in Ireland? Is it due to cost of insurance, lack of state investment, lack of pricing regulations, rental costs, or privatized bjg profit making creches?? I would love to know the breakdown of overheads for running a creche in a city for example.
@Ang: all of the reasons you gave with the exception of big profits. Most childcare facilities run by individuals spend far more time on filling out forms, register children , trying to get answers to queries and the such like out of hours than they do actually looking after children.
@Ang: it is so expensive mainly because insurance in Ireland is fully monopolised and is operating as a cartel. At the moment there is only 1 company that provides insurance to children in creches. Its something around 900 per child.
Also the government never heard of the word “childcare”.
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