On 10 August, the 29-year-old mechanic at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport stole a Horizon Air 76-seat passenger airplane.
The aircraft took off and began manoeuvering over Puget Sound. F-15 fighter jets were sent from Portland to control the situation and, if necessary to intercept it.
According to the mercurynews.com, witnesses reported seeing the Bombardier Q400, a turboprop aircraft, perform a loop-the-loop and nearly slam into Chambers Bay, all while being pursued by fighter jets. The aircraft then crashed into Ketron Island, 40 km to the southwest of the Seattle/Tacoma Airport.
No passengers were on board and there were no reports of injuries on the ground.
Royal King told The Seattle Times he was photographing a wedding when he saw the low-flying turboprop being chased by to F-15s. He said he didn’t see the crash but saw smoke.
‘It was unfathomable, it was something out of a movie,’ he told the newspaper. ‘The smoke lingered. You could still hear the F-15s, which were flying low.’
Sheriff’s department spokesman Ed Troyer also confirmed that two U.S. Air Force F-15s intercepted the plane within minutes of its departure from Sea-Tac, but they were not involved in its crash near Ketron Island.
Two F-15 fighter jets supposedly from the 142nd Fighter Wing, Portland Air National Guard Base, Portland were “not involved in (the) crash,” the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Friday.
The Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 crashed into Ketron Island south of Tacoma, the sheriff’s office said.
“Preliminary info is that a mechanic from unknown airlines stole plane. Was doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills (that) caused crash into Island,” the sheriff’s office said.
Video by Cameron Thomsen
Full video form John Waldron on Facebook being shown on CNN #seatac pic.twitter.com/R98bl5uQBr
— Cameron Thomsen (@CameronThomsen) 11 August 2018
Video by
bmbdgty
Some dude stole a plane from #Seatac (Allegedly), did a loop-the-loop, ALMOST crashed into #ChambersBay, then crossed in front of our party, chased by fighter jets and subsequently crashed. Weird times. pic.twitter.com/Ra4LcIhwfU
— bmbdgty (@drbmbdgty) 11 August 2018