The Port of Seattle has released a series of videos to KOMO News that show the moments leading up to and during the takeoff of a Horizon Air plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that was stolen by a baggage handler before he intentionally crashed the plane.
The videos were released under a public records request submitted by the station that display the final acts on Aug. 10, 2018 of Richard Russell, 28, before he was killed.
According to findings released by the FBI four years ago, Russell acted alone when he took the Horizon Air Q400 aircraft without authorization and performed several acrobatic maneuvers before he intentionally flew the plane into the ground.
The investigation "did not identify any information that would suggest the theft of the aircraft was related to wider criminal activity or terrorist ideology," a summary of the FBI report that was issued said. "Although investigators received information regarding Russell’s background, possible stressors, and personal life, no element provided a clear motivation for Russell’s actions."
To this day, no one has come forward publicly to explain why Russell decided to take the plane six hours into his shift before going on a suicidal flight.
At 7:15 p.m. he arrived in a tow vehicle at the north end of the Sea-Tac airfield. Four minutes later he had boarded the aircraft, and at 7:33 p.m. he took off down the runway and was airborne.
Over the next hour he bantered with air traffic controllers and performed aerial stunts over Puget Sound as thousands of people watched transfixed.
The video released to KOMO News show several banal acts Russell performed that day like walking through the airport and going through security screening.
It also shows the moments in which he pushed the airplane to the runway and jumped into the cockpit while other airport workers went about their tasks with no thought of what was transpiring and the final act that would claim Russel's life.