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Airplane mechanic hijacks flight Air Q400 and crashes after doing stunts on mid-air in Seattle

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 11 August 2018, 12:30 IST

In a major event, a 29-year-old airplane mechanic Rich who appeared to be a suicidal man hijacked an Air Q400 plane from Seattle’s international airport, did some stunt and crashed on a nearby island.

The local Pierce County Sheriff, Paul Pastor, confirmed via Twitter that the man — believed to be an employee of Horizon Airlines — was acting alone when he made the unauthorised flight and was chased by F15 fighter planes.

It was caught on a video, the chase ended when the 76-seater aircraft crashed on Ketron island, around 50km southwest of Seattle.

The stolen aircraft belonged to Alaska Airlines sister carrier Horizon.

The mechanic allegedly hijacked this plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday night and crashed into the Puget Sound in Washington.

 

In a statement released on Twitter, Sea-Tac Airport confirmed the reports of an “unauthorized takeoff.”

“An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without permission at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound,” the tweet read. “Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, Alaska Airlines said, “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.

It is not clear yet that if Rich survived the crash.

However, Pierce County Sheriff said the hijacking was not a “terrorist incident”.

Later, Alaska Airlines confirmed the crash by tweeting,

“We’ve confirmed a Horizon Air Q400 that had an unauthorised 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.”

After the stolen Air Q400 took off without any kind of authorisation it went into lock down with all flights halted.

However Sea-Tac Airport has now confirmed that normal operations have resumed.

 It is not clear yet that if Rich survived the crash.

However, Pierce County Sheriff said the hijacking was not a “terrorist incident”.

Later, Alaska Airlines confirmed the crash by tweeting,

“We’ve confirmed a Horizon Air Q400 that had an unauthorised takeoff from SeaTac around 8pm has gone down near Ketron Island in Pierce County, WA.

 

However Sea-Tac Airport has now confirmed that normal operations have resumed.

“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.”

After the stolen Air Q400 took off without any kind of authorisation it went into lockdown with all flights halted.

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First published: 11 August 2018, 12:30 IST