Horizon Q400 Crashes After Being Stolen From Sea-Tac

[B757300]

An airplane crashed Friday evening after an airline employee conducted an "unauthorized take-off" according to a Sea-Tac International Airport official.

A tweet from Sea-Tac confirmed that the plane crashed in south Puget Sound.

Alaska Airlines said that a Horizon Air Q400 was involved in the incident.

The plane crashed into Ketron Island, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's office.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/live-airplane-stolen-from-sea-tac-airport-crashes-into-washingtons-puget-sound/281-582563371

[B757300]

Live coverage from King5 via YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-P92L5UU7c

Recorded ATC conversation with the person who took the aircraft.

https://twitter.com/jwsthomson/status/1028134044502908929

Video of the Q400 with an F-15 in pursuit.

https://twitter.com/drbmbdgty/status/1028130383911501824

[James Bond]

Very sad.

[Evan]

The controller trying to talk him down seemed sympathetic to his predicament and I think a lot of people will as this story develops, but at one point the controller offers him McChord Field as a place to put in down. This would have meant directing him over densely populated areas and in close proximity to a lot of military aircraft on the ground. I seriously wonder if they would want him to to do this. The intercept initiative is to escort it out over the water, I suppose until it either ditches or plummets into the waves

Very sad indeed.

[3WE]

Can we put a lock and chain on the gear? Cockpit? for whenever the plane is parked? Controlling the keys (or codes) would still be a challenge.

[TeeVee]

not being unsympathetic to the guy's issues, but pretty damn impressive flying for a guy the apparently never flew anything

[Gabriel]

not being unsympathetic to the guy's issues, but pretty damn impressive flying for a guy the apparently never flew anything

It seems that he had quite a bit of experience flying PC sims, though.

[BoeingBobby]

It seems that he had quite a bit of experience flying PC sims, though.

Gabriel, you could have at least got it back in one piece.

[3WE]

Gabriel, you could have at least got it back in one piece.

Unfortunately, Bobby probably missed out on the legendary "Can a Dummy Land an Airliner" thread that appeared on an obscure and long-gone aviation forum.

A poor unfortunate mainline pilot (with a magnificent sense of humor) nearly lost his sanity and was driven to being a quiet and infrequent- albeit always brill-yunt- forumite by the experience.

As we outsiders hen-pecked him we began to ask where to draw the line...

You have a private license...you grossly familiarize yourself via a NON_PCATD-Approved sim...you rehearse a particular scenario (mentally and for real)...you are handed a working simulated airliner, configured, trimmed and somewhat on course and on target...maybe a Dummy...a somewhat educated dummy...can land a 747 on a big runway

[BoeingBobby]

Unfortunately, Bobby probably missed out on the legendary "Can a Dummy Land an Airliner" thread that appeared on an obscure and long-gone aviation forum.

A poor unfortunate mainline pilot (with a magnificent sense of humor) nearly lost his sanity and was driven to being a quiet and infrequent- albeit always brill-yunt- forumite by the experience.

As we outsiders hen-pecked him we began to ask where to draw the line...

You have a private license...you grossly familiarize yourself via a NON_PCATD-Approved sim...you rehearse a particular scenario (mentally and for real)...you are handed a working simulated airliner, configured, trimmed and somewhat on course and on target...maybe a Dummy...a somewhat educated dummy...can land a 747 on a big runway

However, Gabriel has no flight sim, and hasn't flown in over a year. And it was not "beginners luck". Still not an easy task when the a/c weighs over 600000 pounds.

[Gabriel]

Gabriel, you could have at least got it back in one piece.

This guy didn't even wanted to try to get it back in one piece. He just thought of having some fun, committing suicide, sending a message, and not hurting anybody else in the process,all at the same time. And he succeeded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LLmF9tZoEE&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZC8de10mq0&feature=youtu.be

[Evan]

Can we put a lock and chain on the gear? Cockpit? for whenever the plane is parked? Controlling the keys (or codes) would still be a challenge.

Ironically, the Q400 is one of the few large passengers planes with a throttle ground-lock. It's not something you need a key for, but it does require you to know how to release the gust lock lever to move the throttles levers beyond flight idle.

[Evan]

not being unsympathetic to the guy's issues, but pretty damn impressive flying for a guy the apparently never flew anything

He must have had a pretty good sim set-up then. The Q400 doesn't do the turn-coordination for you like larger jets. He must have known how to use the rudder and I don't think you get that with a joystick and some arrow keys.

On the other hand, the Q has automated features like FADEC to make engine start simple, electronic prop control, no reciprocating engine issues like mixture to deal with and an FMC to give you speed bugs, etc.

And of course gobs of power to cover your ass. At ferry weights, I've read that the Q can get 7000fpm and around 25-27° in the initial climb. I'm thinking he had a TOW around 40,000lbs with 10,000hp at his disposal.

And I guess disposal is probably the right word here.

Could he have pulled this off in a JU-52?

[3WE]

***He must have known how to use the rudder***

I do not know the type specific operation of the rudder on a Q-400, thus I have no business commenting.

I will however speculate that if one presses the right pedal, the nose will move towards the right, (with the opposite occurring with the left pedal)?

There might be some dihedral angle on the wings- giving it a tendency to bank- and maybe even tend to establish a nice coordinated turn after what might be a not-so-coordinated entry?

Since this does not have automated stuff [How dare they sell such a thing], I wonder if the plane might have an instrument to indicate if a turn is coordinated or not? There may (or may not) be some applicable rule of thumb that is phrased "step on the ball"?

Given that we have bright little kids reciting amazing stuff in the cockpit of big airplanes, maybe Mr. Rampie understood a few broad fundamentals?

But hey, this is just BS for a 1976 Canadian-bound 172M With a 160 HP Lycoming O-320-E2D with MPH on the ASI...so, probably no relevance...

PS: I considered lengthening this to discuss airspeed color codlings and rough attitudes for climb, rough distances down the runway and [Dear God no!] the phrase, "The plane will tell you when it's ready to fly."

[Gabriel]

Every airplane has a turn=coordination and it is called fin.
You don'teed to the rudder pedals to make a turn.