The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Crazy People Are Dangerous

Posted on | August 11, 2018 | 1 Comment

How many times do I have to repeat this?

A “suicidal” airline mechanic stole an empty Horizon Air turboprop plane, took off from Sea-Tac International Airport and was chased by military jets before crashing into a small island in the Puget Sound on Friday night, officials said.
Preliminary information suggests the crash occurred because the 29-year-old mechanic was “doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.
Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, said on Twitter the man was suicidal and there was no connection to terrorism.
Video showed the Horizon Air Q400 doing large loops and other dangerous maneuvers as the sun set. There were no passengers aboard.
Witnesses reported seeing the plane being chased by military aircraft before it crashed on Ketron Island, southwest of Tacoma, Washington. Troyer said F-15 aircraft scrambled out of Portland, Oregon, and were in the air “within a few minutes” and the pilots kept “people on the ground safe.”
The sheriff’s department said they were working to conduct a background investigation on the Pierce County resident, whose name was not immediately released. Horizon said the mechanic was an employee of the airline and that the aircraft was stolen about 8 p.m..
Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said the man “did something foolish and may well have paid with his life.”
The man could be heard on audio recordings telling air traffic controllers that he is “just a broken guy.”
An air traffic controller called the man “Rich,” and tried to convince the man to land the airplane.
“There is a runway just off to your right side in about a mile,” the controller says, reffering to an airfield at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“Oh man. Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there,” the man responded, lateer adding “This is probably jail time for life, huh?”
Later the man said: “I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this…Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess.”

We don’t yet have an identity for “Rich,” and so it’s impossible to know why he was suicidal. Maybe he had been watching too much CNN lately, which is enough to inspire existential despair. Some days, I watch CNN (so you don’t have to) and it’s profoundly depressing, but I’m a journalist with over 30 years in the business, whereas other people may not be able to cope with hour after hour of Russia! Russia! Russia!

Crazy People Are Dangerous.

 

Category: Crime, Washington State

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One Response to “Crazy People Are Dangerous”

  1. FMJRA 2.0: Talk Dirty To Me : The Other McCain
    August 18th, 2018 @ 10:34 pm

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