T
HIS YEAR, SEATTLE-TACOMA
International Airport —
commonly referred to as
‘Sea-Tac’ — celebrates 69 years
of service to the community
in the Puget Sound area of
Washington State. Ranked ninth for
busiest airports in the United States, it
sits in a beautiful location 433ft above
sea level. For aviation lovers, it’s a
pretty idyllic spot: evergreen trees, the
mountains of the Olympic Peninsula
in the distance and plenty of airplanes
adorned in all manner of vibrant liveries.
I have pleasant memories from my
trips through Sea-Tac. Most of the
time, it’s been traveling to or from
Alaska, or back to my home state. It’s a
lively, vibrant airport with a lot of glass
and timber accents, museum-quality
displays of historical pieces, and the kind
of laid-back, warm, inviting atmosphere
Seattle aspires to. The food options on
ofer are plentiful and decent, it’s easy to
navigate, and it has been a gateway toadventure for tens of millions of people
each year.
As sunset loomed on August 10, 2018,
Richard Russell, a 28-year-old ground
service agent for Horizon Air, managed
to steal a company Bombardier Dash 8
Q400-series aircraft, taking-of without
permission from Sea-Tac shortly before
20.00hrs local time. Thankfully, no
passengers or other company employees
were aboard the aircraft, which bore the
registration N449QX. It was delivered to
Horizon Air in June 2012.
According to Alaska Air Group, the
conglomerate that owns Horizon Air,
Russell’s duties as a ground service
agent made him responsible for
handling luggage, as well as tasks like
de-icing when the weather in the Paciic
Northwest turns cold. He was not a
mechanic, nor did he have a pilot’s
license. Yet somehow after gaining access
to the Q400 he was able to start, taxi,
and ultimately take of in a very complex
turboprop passenger aircraft.BRINGING YOU THE LATEST TALK
FROM AROUND THE SQUADRONS
BYSCOTT WOLFFHORIZON
AIR
INCIDENT
QUESTIONS
RAISED,
QUESTIONS
ANSWERED
HORIZON
AIR
INCIDENT
QUESTIONS
RAISED,
QUESTIONS
ANSWERED
14 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net