Seattle plane crash: Experts baffled by hijacker's 'incredible manoeuvres'

Moneycontrol News

Struggling to decipher how the ground crew airline worker hijacked a plane at Seattle airport, US aviation chiefs are puzzled by a series of 'incredible' loops and other stunts that were performed by him before crashing the plane off the coast of Seattle.

A report in The Independent stated that an investigation is being carried out by flight experts to determine how the 29-year-old Horizon Air employee Richard Russell managed to start the engine and take off the Q400 turboprop aircraft. Following this, the worker carried out a series of “incredible” manoeuvres.

Audio recordings taken from the cockpit revealed the 29-year old Horizon Air worker, Russell to gain his flight knowledge by watching video games.

Before crashing the flight into Ketron Island off the coast of Seattle on Friday, Russell said: "I've played video games before and I know what I’m  doing a little bit."

Attending a conference during the same weekend, Horizon Air CEO, Gary Beck stated that Russell did not have a pilot’s license and this confused the airlines over how he managed to fly the turboprop for about an hour before crashing it.

Russell's act has been described as suicidal by the US Authorities. He was later heard telling the air traffic controllers that “I wasn’t really planning on landing it.”

Investigations carried out by FBI have recovered the black box recorder from the unscheduled flight along with human remains. Russell was the sole person on board.

Speaking of the incident, the Alaska Air CEO, Brad Tilden, said: "There were some manoeuvres that were done that were incredible manoeuvres. I don’t know how he achieved the experience that he did."

Others simply believe that the simulations received through video games provided Russell with enough knowledge.