Seattle Air Traffic Grounded After Employee STEALS Plane

This certainly isn’t something you hear about every day.
According to this, Alaskan Airlines confirmed that there was some sort of “unauthorized takeoff” involving a passenger plane from the SeaTac airport.

We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more.

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018

We've confirmed a Horizon Air Q400 that had an unauthorized takeoff from SeaTac around 8pm has gone down near Ketron Island in Pierce County, WA. We're working to confirm who was on board, we believe there were no guests or crew on board other than the person operating the plane.

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018

FAA reported stolen a/c from Sea-Tac airport and requested DoD assistance. NORAD launched 2x F-15 who intercepted the a/c and were working to redirect the aircraft out over the Pacific when it crashed. The fighters did not fire upon the a/c. Event pass to local rescue and law enf pic.twitter.com/f9wQ6ew80L

— NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@Norad_Northcom) August 11, 2018

It seems an employee STOLE the plane, did some weird loops and ultimately crashed on an island. He’s been described as a “suicidal male.”

Male is confirmed a suicidal male. Acted alone he is 29 year old Pierce county residence . We are working back ground on him now.

— Pierce Co Sheriff (@PierceSheriff) August 11, 2018

A Horizon Air passenger plane crashed on an island in Puget Sound Friday night, not long after a suspect conducted an “unauthorized take-off” from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state, officials said.

Witnesses reported seeing a large plume of smoke in the air above Ketron Island after the plane went down. No passengers were believed to be aboard the Q400 aircraft, airport officials said.

While it was unfolding, the man could be heard speaking to air traffic control.

“I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this,” he said. “I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess.”

Thankfully, there were NO passengers, and there were no injuries on the ground.

More from the Seattle Times:

The Sheriff’s Department said it was “not a terrorist incident.” The plane crashed either while the man was doing stunts or because of a lack of flying skills, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

“A joyride gone terribly wrong,” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said during a news conference in Steilacoom, which is about 3 miles from the island.

A message from Horizon Air Chief Operating Officer Constance von Muehlen: https://t.co/BDhk9pf1Yt

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018

A message from Alaska Air Group CEO, Brad Tilden and Horizon Air CEO, Gary Beck. https://t.co/frXSW75Lkq

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) August 11, 2018

An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed.

— Sea-Tac Airport (@SeaTacAirport) August 11, 2018

I want to thank the Air National Guard from Washington and Oregon for scrambling jets to keep Washingtonians safe. Those pilots are trained for moments like tonight and showed they are ready and capable.

— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) August 11, 2018

Apparently someone stole a plane from SeaTac? Saw two fighter jets fly overhead then smoke pic.twitter.com/w0bveGUJQH

— McKenna Brown (@mckenna_brown) August 11, 2018

Some dude stole a plane from #Seatac (Allegedly), did a loop-the-loop, ALMOST crashed into #ChambersBay, then crossed in front of our party, chased by fighter jets and subsequently crashed. Weird times. pic.twitter.com/Ra4LcIhwfU

— bmbdgty (@drbmbdgty) August 11, 2018

Weird times indeed. Thank goodness no one was hurt.