No information is available for this page.Learn why. Source: /YouTube INVESTIGATORS WORKED TO find out how a “suicidal” airline employee stole an empty Horizon Air turboprop plane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport and crashed into a small island in the Puget Sound after being chased by military jets that were quickly scrambled to intercept the aircraft. The bizarre incident points to one of the biggest potential perils for commercial air travel — airline or airport employees causing mayhem. “The greatest threat we have to aviation is the insider threat,” Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent and transportation security expert, told The Associated Press. “Here we have an employee who was vetted to the level to have access to the aircraft and had a skill set proficient enough to take off with that plane.” The Friday night crash happened because the 29-year-old man was “doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said. The man, who was believed killed, wasn’t immediately identified. “The man was suicidal, and there was no connection to terrorism,” Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department, said. ![]() A plane flies past a control tower at Sea-Tac International Airport Source: Elaine Thompson Press Association Images Video showed the Horizon Air Q400 doing large loops and other dangerous manoeuvres as the sunset 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. Southers, the aviation security expert, said the man could have caused mass destruction. “If he had the skill set to do loops with a plane like this, he certainly had the capacity to fly it into a building and kill people on the ground.,” he said. The plane was pursued by military aircraft before it crashed on tiny Ketron Island, southwest of Tacoma, Washington. Video showed fiery flames amidst trees on the island, which is sparsely populated and only accessible by ferry. No structures on the ground were damaged, Alaska Airlines said. Troyer said F-15 aircraft took off 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. The aircraft was stolen about 8pm 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 U.S. 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 the man 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. 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.
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Март 2019
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