Worker steals empty plane and dies in crash

International Desk: An airline worker who stole a passenger plane Friday from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and flew it for an hour before crashing in a wooded island 25 miles away has been identified as Richard Russell, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN.

Russell, 29, a Horizon Air ground service agent for three and a half years was killed in the crash, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said. Russell was the only person aboard the plane, the department said.

The incident, which the FBI's Seattle office did not consider terrorism, raises questions about airport security. Investigators headed Saturday to the crash site to recover the plane's data recorders and Russell's remains as part of a criminal probe, authorities said.

The 76-seat Horizon Air turboprop plane took off without authorization at 7:32 p.m. local time, with Russell, who was not a pilot at the controls, officials said.
The job of a ground service agent includes directing aircraft for takeoff and gate approach, handling baggage and tidying and de-icing planes, authorities said.

After talking periodically with air traffic controllers for about an hour, the plane crashed at Ketron Island,officials said.

Video from a witness on the ground shows the plane at one point pulling up for a loop, putting the aircraft upside-down and then pulling back up just feet above a body of water.

Airports nationwide will now look at whether their security procedures need to change, CNN safety analyst David Soucie said. For one, Russell shouldn't have been able to board the plane alone, he said.

"There is a protocol to not allow anyone singularly to get onboard an aircraft," Soucie said. "If you're going to access the aircraft ... you make sure that you check with someone else, and that someone else (will confirm) that ... you have the right authority to get onto that aircraft."

Agencies


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