A suicidal mechanic stole a Q400 from SeaTac, took it for a joyride and finally crashed it on an island, chased by fighters. Thankfully nobody got hurt except him. Guy sounded like someone who could have been talked off the ledge by ATC, but alas, didn’t happen. Feel sorry for him, obviously very depressed, but not a maniac.
He did pull off a low level roll in the Q400 that was rather impressive, despite not having any flight training. Caught on camera.
I’ve heard elsewhere he was a ground handler.
I posted on another forum that it was just very sad. Everyone else doing the usual maniac bit. I listened to the ATC communication, watched the videos, and it was all quite impressive (his flying) up to the bit he ploughed it in. At one point blames minimum wage strategy of the company and hopes that ‘’those further up’’ may learn. Troubling times I am afraid.
I can just imagine what the fallout of this will probably be in the industry. This guy has single handedly destroyed the trust into millions of airport workers and he will cause a new security frenzy, which may have huge implications.
At big airports in the 1st World there is already pretty good security on airport workers. A friend of mine works on line maintenance and he gets the full “passenger” treatment on his way in and out. Plus some background checks. Things have improved from the good olde days when crowds of baggage handlers would run open stealing sessions, with the full support of their unions who would go berserk over any security tightening. But in the end you cannot prevent an airport worker with access to a plane doing whatever he wants to do with it. One of the problems is that most of the airport jobs are really sh1tty work, especially short haul line maintenance which is done outdoors and at night (the destruction of the lives of the people doing those jobs is one of the pillars propping up the £20 Easyjet, Ryanair, etc tickets) and a lot of the people who apply for those jobs cannot be adequately vetted because of where they have come from. So probably nothing much will happen.
Peter wrote:
(the destruction of the lives of the people doing those jobs is one of the pillars propping up the £20 Easyjet, Ryanair, etc tickets)
Did anything really change after the suicidal pilots of Germanwings, Malaysian, Egyptair etc. No, a tick box mentality whilst driving internal cost reduction further and further. Consequence is the result. When I stated above that I was just sad, it was a generic comment. One of the largest industries, ’’security’’ has risen up where the vast majority of employees are on minimum wage, of generally ethnic origin, and we fall for it all. Meanwhile employees crash aeroplanes, steal aeroplanes, and the drunken public on 9.99 fares run amok. I despair when i see what it has all become. I do not think anything will change because the cause is internal within the industry.
All the security in this industry is CYA BS!
It is technocratic insanity.
You can’t say that all security has no effect. The number of deaths from terrorist attacks was higher in the 70’s, with a much lower level of activity than today.
What is certain is that you cannot have 100 % security against every risk, so choices have to be made intelligently.
About this incident, I wonder if an airport were prepared for such a scenario, if they couldn’t send some fire trucks to block a plane that moves without clearance.
If I wanted to do this I would call up the tower with a taxi request to re-position the aircraft elsewhere on the airport, and if that can be arranged to cross a runway… 
Rwy20 wrote:
You can’t say that all security has no effect.
What I meant was: all the (visible) security in place is cya BS! If someone wants to pull something off they will pull it off. There is some smart stuff going on behind the scenes that is actually effective, but taking pilot’s nail clippers and water bottles away is not. The US is smarter in that regard with KCM lanes…
Totally agree, 100% security is not possible. Best to shrug and enjoy a good life instead of living in fear.
