Today is the 3rd anniversary for Richard Russell's death after he stole a Bombardier Q-400 and took it for a joy ride before crashing on a small island without any other fatalities.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

I suppose it’s inevitable that this guy became a folk hero, but it still feels a little wrong to glorify it (not saying you’re doing this OP).

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Yep.. nobody thinks about the controllers that had to deal with this. Or you know stealing a multimillion dollar thing to joyride and blow up. Or you know start a fire in the woods. Or the pilots of the interceptors that may have had to take this guy's life.

This ended up in almost the best possible way, what if he screwed something up and crashed it into a stadium full of people? (There was a concert going on iirc). Or someone's house?

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Arkansas-@reddit

Or how this impacted his family members. It bothers me to see this guy being glorified. It's a sad story. And I wish he could've gotten help, because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy that snapped. (Reports of his wife wanting a divorce, low wages etc.) But man. Those are things so many people go through. You don't go hijack and crash a plane about it.

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Jaguurnaut@reddit

Propriety doesn't look the same to everyone.

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Jessie899@reddit

Idk after suffering more than half my life with mental illness and trying to figure out whats wrong with me and countless medication trials and nothing works. I wish I could kill myself but I can't becuase everyone is so dam sensitive so now I stick to myself in pain everyday so I still dont affect other people's life. Would be better for me n everyone else if I just went away

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moal09@reddit

I don't think it's about glorifying him. It's about showing the guy some love and respect after he died when he clearly needed some when he was still alive.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

The fire was on a small island.

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wewd@reddit

He crashed less than 200 feet from an occupied cabin.

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Tour_Dramatic@reddit

He crashed on a small island uninhabited by human beings. There were no cabins there

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Kalymzo@reddit

Check again buddy

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ixlr8360@reddit

just sit rite back and youll hear a tale....

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spazturtle@reddit

Suicide always has collateral, if you jump in front of a train then it is the driver, if you hang yourself then it is the person who finds you.

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QuickCouple5236@reddit

Not if you take a dip in the ocean with a weighted vest 😅

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JacktheJacker92@reddit

Then its the baby whales who have to pass by you on the way to school.

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seanm147@reddit

one thing, the jets scrambled were probably happy to get some flight time.

The amount of training compared to how often you actually fly a cool jet is absurd.

I agree though, but the southern part of the island was probably one of the better endings to this

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Highandfast@reddit

I don't know about folk hero. There's more than a hint of compassion in this thread. It's about mental health, loss of hope. There's no contest his acts were not safe, but he didn't actively want to harm anybody, and it didn't happen either.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

I never said there was no compassion in the thread. People usually have compassion for folk heroes. Celebrating the incredibly reckless dying act of a very sick man is what I object to.

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Highandfast@reddit

Sure, nobody should celebrate putting people in danger and destroying property.

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BibslyBogman@reddit

Eh, most people stick a gun in their mouth and leave it for someone else to clean up. At least this guy had a great fucking story to tell at the pearly gates about how he got there

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Kalymzo@reddit

You have a good point. The portal that opened and sucked all of the plane debris and un-charred the land it crashed on really made it a net-zero loss right?

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BibslyBogman@reddit

Incinerated debris on an uninhabited island vs. your family finding your disgusting bloated corpse days after you offed yourself…

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Wlcm2ThPwrStoneWrld@reddit

*not uninhabited, there was a cabin inhabited literally close to the crash site on the island. Just might want to read up on this a bit more before commenting so confidently.

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BibslyBogman@reddit

Fair enough. Over a dozen lived there apparently. One or two of the (admittedly sensational) sources I first learned about this incident claimed the island was uninhabited. I definitely just wanted to believe it. At least the outcome still seems to line up with Russell’s intentions, which I believe was to not cause physical harm to anyone but himself. But I’ll concede that it was a lot closer to being a lot worse than I claimed

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Jukeboxshapiro@reddit

RIP Skyking, may you fly half an hour before the FAA knows you're airborne.

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Dangerous_Stand6223@reddit

The unhinged perp was born in flori-DUHHHHH. Nuff said.

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Dangerous_Stand6223@reddit

Deserves to be "burning" for that stoopid, selfish, dangerous, deranged stunt.

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Dangerous_Stand6223@reddit

MAJOR idjit in da house

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aanavriN@reddit

I heard his wife cheated on him with a pilot. Thats why he wants to show it he could fly too if he could have the opportunity and luck

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Trippyandtasty@reddit

Source?

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aanavriN@reddit

I just read it if i can find it i ll edit it again

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SmokinMcNasty@reddit

I wish he could have landed and seen all of us who support him. Rest easy Skyking

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McBlemmen@reddit

If he had landed his life would have only gotten worse. Dude would have spent the rest of his life in jail.

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Gamer30168@reddit

I agree going to prison definitely wasn't going to improve his life in any manner but I doubt he could have gotten life.

His crime was theft...albeit a really expensive piece of property. My best guess is 5 years, MAYBE 10.

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Tour_Dramatic@reddit

LOL you don't get a life sentence for aircraft piracy and the only time it is punishable by death is if you stealing it resulted in a death. Learn a whole law and not just part of it

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Tour_Dramatic@reddit

LOL you're not going to get life in prison for a first time criminal offense of theft

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BibslyBogman@reddit

Hijacking a plane is punishable by death

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Extrahostile@reddit (OP)

On August 10, 2018, a Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 was stolen from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea–Tac) in SeaTac, Washington. The perpetrator, 29-year-old Richard Russell, was a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. Sea–Tac air traffic control made radio contact with Russell, the sole occupant, who described himself as a "broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess." About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell died by intentionally crashing the aircraft on lightly populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound.

His last words: "Hey pilot guy, can this thing do a backflip, you think?”

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Ghostato41@reddit

After being told to land, His actual last words were "I don't want to. I was kind of hoping that would be it, you know." After completing a barrel roll nearing 10 feet close to the ground at the lowest point. Rip Richard "Beebo" Russell, The Airking

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mcbuggerluggs@reddit

I only just became aware of this story today, the audio was on a TikTok video, and it really struck a chord, so I came to Reddit cause I knew there would be a discussion on it somewhere. I know I’m a bit late but thanks for posting

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H0lyD1ver2077@reddit

Yeah it came up in my Facebook reels today and I was surprised to hear the conversation. Sad he felt broken

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The51stDivision@reddit

i think he actually did manage to pull a backflip before going? iirc

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elingeniero@reddit

Yeah, pulled out of it at like 200ft above the water. If it wasn't so sad it would be epic.

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ixlr8360@reddit

i cant hold er, shes breakin up.

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ixlr8360@reddit

lets all learn to suck it up buttercups.

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ixlr8360@reddit

the world aint gonna change for none of us. suck it up or get the hose or a rope. true eternal sleep wont help nothin. quit watchin the news and enjoy life.

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gildmebitches@reddit

So... Whatcha got goin on here? Replying to your own comment from a year ago

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ixlr8360@reddit

may do 1 from 5 yrs ago. no problem. im retired.

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ixlr8360@reddit

u musta missed the other 1. its from 3 months ago.

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Motile_@reddit

10 ft LOL

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Duckbilling@reddit

Whatever he did, it was not a barrel roll

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_roll

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Glum_Froyo9142@reddit

It was a successful barrel roll

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Sharp-Chef-8065@reddit

I just wish I could have hugged him, I've been here before, sometimes I'm still there. His heart was so heavy with the woes of life. I will not praise or glorify his actions they were unsafe and selfish. This is a tragedy, there is no triumph. The only thing to take from this is rhat at least he is out of pain. But I wish right before he stole that plane I would teleport from the future and just hug him right before, I wouldn't stop but I'd hug him and tell him that no matter how broken he felt, my huge and the love of his love ones will work hard to hold him together. This boys death and his misery broke my heart. I wish he was alive to eat the fish juicy peaches of summer, or breathe in the brisk air the oceans coast, or to simply feel the sun radiate his skin till it glowed. I never forget this man, I cry everytime I see his vids, read his story or see his pictures, he just looked like a soul that you'd be Instantly in live with. Rest in peace my richard russel. I love you.

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aanavriN@reddit

Sometimes it happens to me too like thinking to end my life cuz the life is hard but still having hope i can change it . I think loneliness but not meaning real loneliness.. u dont have to be physically lonely.

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goodpeopleezpz@reddit

Can someone tell me where he is like cremated ??

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PomegranateSlight708@reddit

I still think about this often. I admire his tenacity; enduring what must've been a deep, intense emotional pain while maintaining a positive attitude and compassion for other humans. I envy his courage; taking this enormous risk to complete something that made him feel accomplished, meaningful, and fulfilled, even if only for the last few moments of his life. I fear his familiarity; the empathy and connection I feel to his story, to the cadence in his voice, to the desire to feel alive & fuck the expense... Makes me wonder what I'd be capable of.

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Wlcm2ThPwrStoneWrld@reddit

You ended your last sentence with a preposition, but I'm confident you're capable of proper grammar at a minimum.

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PomegranateSlight708@reddit

I’m confident your* capable of

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Lk957@reddit

Did anyone survive the crash?

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Visual_Lack3378@reddit

Damn americans are weird af. They sometimes glorify a perosn k!lling himself and destroying property, putting public in danger. Sometimes, they make fun of the suicide case e.g; Liam Payne

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UnusualMike36@reddit

Its been nearly 7 years. And I'm still crying about it. I don't cry, ever. But Beebo, just really shines a light onto my own feelings.

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Ultramass@reddit

Seven years later and my first time hearing about this story. I can’t condone his actions, but empathize with what he had to be going through. Just a normal guy that had hit a bad patch in life and just wanted to feel “happy” again.

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Adept_Actuator_9323@reddit

So many of us. And I mean so many of us felt the same way after a few days, much less two years of the orange idiot. Most of us though, are not as courageous and bold enough to make such a statement.

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Viscious82@reddit

That guy can go to hell

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Difficult-Being-6885@reddit

Did he mean to crash the plane or was it a fatal accident?

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Cryatos1@reddit

He ran out of fuel, the engines died, and he decided to end it nose down into an island.

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Difficult-Being-6885@reddit

So he did mean to crash. What a fucking legend

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RustCohleWasRight@reddit

Was his autopsy report ever released?

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Mr_Lumbergh@reddit

Geez that's been three years already?

RIP Mr. Russel, it's too bad it took this for you to find some peace.

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Nightofdaggers@reddit

It’s been three more years than that, he is still remembered. Fly high sky king

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Strangebottles@reddit

Into the Wild into the cockpit

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FatimahGianna2@reddit

Keep looking for that orca my friend. I too am suffering the same pain Beebo went through but I fight on. He was okay with being average but the “BE SUCCESSFUL” drum kept beating. It’s hard to drown out.

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jjj1966@reddit

Stick around, mate :)

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pantydropir@reddit

6 years

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Full_Juggernaut_2866@reddit

He brought awareness to something that needs to be addressed more. His actions may have been wrong but they werent illy corrupt for harm of innocent. Sometimes the brain uses exploration as a way to cope for extreme suffering this exhilarating joy ride helped relieve some of that tension you can hear unfortunately he needed help prior to incident.

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CockusBigus@reddit

stealing a plane and crashing it is cool now?

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7PanzerDiv@reddit

Remembering when someone who felt they had no way out and decided to go down doing something they wanted to do, (whether or not they should have), and saying everyone should do it if they want to be cool, are completely different things

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CockusBigus@reddit

not glorifying that ..dude could have chosen another way to go out ...his life is not worth a few million that plane he stole

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mattforsleep92@reddit

You’re right, his life is priceless and some fuck-ass corporation with an insurance policy on the plane couldn’t give two shits about this man or any of their employees and their mental health.

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CockusBigus@reddit

sounds like you want to do the same stunt next..go for it bro

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wearethefishes9@reddit

RIP SkyKing, you have no soul broski!

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Mean_Specific5298@reddit

Does anyone have the full audio??

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SF_Nick@reddit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUt-W8Fcpyw

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kennesawking@reddit

guy stole someone’s aircraft and fucking destroyed it. not cool

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Extrahostile@reddit (OP)

Someone? It's a company.

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kennesawking@reddit

people own companies

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Extrahostile@reddit (OP)

the owners are now 0.1% less rich ?

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kennesawking@reddit

uh no thats a multi million dollar aircraft

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bkpilot@reddit

It was insured at $30m which was paid without a deductible per Wikipedia so cost of property isn’t the thing to focus on here.

Also if you’re thinking about the poor insurance company- they all re-insure each other. There likely is no significant monetary impact to any identifiable party… the economy just absorbs this stuff.

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kennesawking@reddit

it ain’t cool costing people you don’t know their money

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bkpilot@reddit

What are you talking about!? Do you have any idea what this post is about?

The aircraft was owned by Horizon Airlines which is part of the publicly traded company Alaska Airlines. Therefore we do literally know their finances as a matter of public record because they release them each year, including the crash year: https://investor.alaskaair.com/static-files/8eb5f892-f69e-4fe0-9ac8-1cbcc53c0a0d

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Dzheyson@reddit

That audio was so hard to listen to

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Fallout76Merc@reddit

I remember watching it with my father and just feeling... sad?

It was very obvious he was just tired and wanted to have some fun before he went.

Always watch out for your loved ones. And it is always worth waking up the next day. ♡

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OddballLouLou@reddit

That’s a beautiful way to put it. It’s so tragic what happened to him, and like you said, he just wanted to have fun before he went.