One of the classiest/bizarre suicides in recent memory
Yesterday a ground-crew worker at Sea-Tac stole an (empty) plane, did some nifty acrobatics in the air (most experienced pilots couldn't do the barrel rolls he did), joked with ATC, and then killed himself by crashing into a deserted island. As summarized below by a Guardian commentator:
"An Alaska Airlines mechanic and ground worker who hijacked an empty commercial plane from Seattle-Tacoma Airport on Friday night joked with air traffic controllers for more than 20 minutes before crashing it into an island 25 miles away. The 29-year-old staffer, a married man from Alaska with no flying responsibilities (Richard Russell), took off in the 76-seater Horizon Air turboprop Q400 at about 8pm after he took the aircraft from a maintenance area. Two F-15 fighter jets scrambled from Portland minutes after the plane took off to intercept it. Witnesses described seeing the aircraft performing barrel rolls and loop-the-loops as the military planes directed it away from highly-populated areas and towards Ketron Island, where it crashed into a ball of flame. Today it emerged the suicidal pilot's main role at the airport was to unload bags from planes, and it is not known how he managed to fly the plane, given he seemingly had no flying experience."
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Full ATC transmission here:
"If that [the barrel roll] goes good, I'll nose down and call it a night."
This is absolutely classic.
The guy was (obviously) deeply troubled. Sounded liked a nice fella.
*I'm a recreation pilot and borderline suicidal. Hence why this piqued my interest. :)
Obviously this is someone that needed mental help and this ended in a tragic way. It saddens me in a way that these things usually don't.
Also, I disagree with the "full ATC transmission" - there's clear edits in it, especially after the 7-minute mark.
RE: your stealthy footnote...
Are you getting treatment for your health issues? PM me if you want, happy to talk. We helped one of our team members work through a mental health condition recently and he seems much happier overall. I was super skeptical about it at first but it seems to have worked. Tailored some of his work to make things more friendly for his health condition too and maybe you can do something similar at your place of employment.
I don't need employment. I don't need money. I have nearly everything (material) I could possibly want.
What I don't have is a reason to exist. I generally hate other people (misanthropic), and that includes myself. Children are disgusting. Girls are boring/repetitive as hell. I've lived in nearly 30 countries in the past 8 years.
What really hit me was the guy's passion for travel. Look at his youtube videos/blogs. It seems he was struggling to pay for his passion for travel with his minimum wage job.
I guess my fear is exhausting my hedonic stimulants. There are nights where I genuinely regret being born into an era where all the earth has been explored, yet we're still not able to engage in space travel. The notion of being unable to leave Earth during my lifetime is deeply troubling.
"There's only 1 series philosophical problem [in life], and that is suicide." ~Albert Camus
Sounds like you're bored and need to work on solving bigger more exciting problems. Ever consider getting involved with a non-profit and helping them scale or impact more people? It's really fun and leads to a ton of fulfillment.
Good news, space travel in our lifetime might be possible. It also might be hugely expensive, but fortunately this doesn't seem to be a problem for you.
I would go digging but I'm low on time, what's your current funding sources? Past employment-for-other gains, past self-employment gains, or family money? How long do you have left to keep funding this travel?
Congrats on living a life most people dream of - I have similar 'existential crisis'-type thoughts.
I don't know you so what I'm saying may seem like it's coming out of my ass but from what you've posted (here and in the past) you seem to go after short-term selfish pleasures which inevitably loose their joy and ability to please. Your 'children are disgusting line' strikes me the most because I may argue that that is what you need. You seem to be unmarried and without children craving short-term pleasure. So why do you hate children? Have you considered having any? Have you ever spent genuine time with children? Seeing their emotion and feelings? Ever visited an orphanage and spent time with children in need who have no mentor or direction and crave it badly? It seems like you may be at a point in your life where a source of pleasure may be from something other and bigger than yourself like having children. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.
Sounds like you're wealthy/well off and bored. If you had real concerns like putting bread on the table, you wouldn't be worrying about what you're worried about.
Want to do something meaningful, like help us improve space travel - go work for SpaceX or any other aerospace shop. Fund disease research. Help the homeless. Educate and mentor underprivileged kids.
There are so many things you could be doing instead of pathetically wallowing in self-pity. Or off yourself and donate your resources to something useful.
The best option for him would be to see some specialists
I gotta say MonacoMonkey even though you come off as defunct, you're my type of defunct. Seriously wish you the best in everything you do mate.
I will also add, Seattle is very, VERY lucky this guy didn't have homicidal tendencies. Could've been a whole lot worse.
Sometimes we're pushed to the limits. Inside, our blood boils, our mind aches. Trapped in an invisible box lacking meaning, the only way out is to turn off the lights. It's to crash. And burn.
RIP Beebo Russell.
MonacoMonkey
What's flying like the first time? Seems like a great experience.
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