2018 Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 Incident — the full case file

The Horizon Air Q400 (N449QX) lands at Sea-Tac Airport in the afternoon following a flight from Victoria, British Columbia; it is not scheduled to fly again that day. On August 10, 2018, a Horizon Air ground service agent stole an empty Q400 aircraft from Sea-Tac Airport, flew it for over an hour while in contact with air traffic control, and deliberately crashed it into sparsely populated Ketron Island, dying by suicide with no other injuries. On August 10, 2018, Richard Russell takes the unattended aircraft from a cargo area and taxis it to a runway; unauthorized takeoff occurs at approximately 19:32 local time. On August 10, 2018, two F-15C fighters are scrambled from Portland Air National Guard Base to intercept the aircraft; a refueling tanker is also scrambled. On August 10, 2018, Russell performs a barrel roll over Puget Sound and then deliberately crashes the aircraft on Ketron Island at approximately 20:43 local time, killing himself. On August 11, 2018, Pierce County Sheriff's Office states the incident was not a terrorist act; federal agencies, led by the FBI, take over the investigation. On August 12, 2018, FBI recovers the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder components, sent to the NTSB for processing. On November 9, 2018, FBI announces completion of its investigation, ruling out terrorism, confirming Russell acted alone, and listing suicide as the manner of death. On April 14, 2022, FBI releases over 500 pages of documents related to the investigation. The case is recorded as solved. This case file is kept in memory of Richard Russell. The full sourced case file, with every fact cited, is at casepin dot org.

Transcript from the video’s narration track. For every source, open the case file.