"Sky King" Richard Russell Described Himself as a "Broken Guy" Before Fatally Crashing Stolen Aircraft

Content warning: This article discusses topics that readers may find upsetting, including suicide.

Though it happened back in 2018, the tragic story of "Sky King" Richard Russell is still one that fascinates and devastates folks to this day. Russell, a 29-year-old Horizon Air ground-service agent known to his friends and family as "Beebo," was described as a "jokester" and a "completely normal" guy.

However, everything changed on Aug. 10.

On that fateful day, Russell did something drastic: He stole a commercial plane, performed an unauthorized takeoff with no known flight experience and ended his own life, leaving his loved ones in "complete shock."

Here's what happened.

The incident that occurred on the evening of Aug. 10 seemed to come out of nowhere for the friends and family of Richard Russell.

The husband and former bakery owner had been working as a Horizon Air ground-service agent at Seattle-Tacoma Airport for three years at the time, and as noted by his colleagues, had passed all the necessary background checks to "handle baggage and clean aircrafts."

They described him as "a quiet, friendly guy who read a lot and liked the free travel perks that came with working for an airline," per The Seattle Times.

"He was the nicest guy," recalled former co-worker Brandon Brown. "Sometimes you can work at places and some of the people there, you’d think something was a little off with them. I never in a million years thought that about him."

However, Russell was notably unhappy with working conditions at Horizon Air.

“I never thought I would work as a ground service agent,” Russell once wrote on social media. "It seemed like such miserable work and I never could imagine why anyone would want to subject themselves to all the constant noise, gas fumes, and heavy lifting."

In an interview he conducted with several coworkers, which he posted online for a communications course, they all agreed that they were unhappy with their management and low minimum wage.

"We were overworked, extremely underpaid,” shared Austin Duerr, a former Horizon worker from 2007 to 2012. "We talk about workplace culture, what is the culture of an organization? If there was one word or two words, it would be dysfunctional and toxic.”

Sadly, it seems that the poor work environment, coupled with Russell's purported struggles with mental health, ended up being too much for him to handle.

After working his shift on that Friday, Russell snuck into a Horizon Air Q400 and performed an unauthorized takeoff at 7:32 p.m. with the predetermined intention to end his own life.

While fighter jets were deployed to try and intercept his flight, Sea-Tac air traffic control was able to make contact with Russell, giving them — and later, the public — an insight into his mental state and motive.

When officials tried to coach him into controlling and landing the craft, he responded, "I don’t need that much help. I’ve played some video games before. ... I know how to put the landing gear down. I really wasn’t planning on landing it."

At one point, he also noted, "I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this."

When asked why he was doing it, he said, "Minimum wage, we’ll chalk it up to that ... Maybe that will grease some gears a little bit with the higher-ups."

He also described himself as a "broken guy" with "a few screws loose, I guess."

Sadly, about an hour and 15 minutes after taking off, Russell successfully executed a barrel roll in the aircraft before fatally crashing into a near-deserted island in Puget Sound. He was the sole victim in the crash.

"It may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe, but Beebo was a warm, compassionate man," his family said in a statement following his death. "He was a faithful husband, a loving son, and a good friend."