Alaska Air Employee Steals Aircraft, Takes It For A Spin Before Crashing Into Island Near Seattle

An employee of Seattle-based Alaska Air on Friday (10 August) stole a Bombardier Q400 turboprop plane from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) in Washington and took it for quite the ride before crashing it into a nearby island off the Puget Sound, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The plane was identified as one belonging to Horizon Air, a sister airline of Alaska Air. Local law enforcement agencies have said that it was not an act of terrorism.

The plane was taken from the maintenance area of the aircraft by a ground services employee. There were no passengers or crew on board the plane and it was not scheduled for any other trips.

Audio communication between the pilot and air traffic control (ATC) accessed by The Seattle Times indicated that the plane was low on fuel but the pilot wasn’t ready to land.

Two F-15 jets of the US Air Force from Portland, Oregon followed the plane during the 45 minute-long wild ride that the pilot took. The pilot pulled the plane out of a roll and a deep dive with the conversation suggesting that he expected to lose control and crash due to it.

The plane ultimately crashed into a sparsely populated island. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said that it was working with state and city agencies to figure out how the incident happened. Operations at Sea-Tac were temporarily halted.

Amid questions on security lapses at the international airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declined to comment.