Fly High Sky King, I Wish We’d Known You Better

Greetings and Salutations!
On this date, August 10, 2018, Richard “Beebo” Russell went and stole a DeHavilland Dash 8-400, an un-passengered twin engined commercial turboprop from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and flew into history.

“Sky King” as he’s been dubbed was a 28 year old white male who’d been passed over for promotion at his job at the airport as a ground service agent or better known as a “ramp rat”. Being passed over for promotion despite his excellent reviews and work ethic sent him into a spiraling depression that eventually, eight years ago today, caused him to snap.

Instead of causing harm to others, he, without prior flight training, nor experience flew what can only be recognized now as a phenomenal aerial joyride. During his epic flight, he successfully navigated around the greater Oregon/Washington area and flew to several natural landmarks, including Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains, and asked for the coordinates of an orca whale that had recently been in the news.

Realizing that this stunt was going to probably have some serious repercussions, his final act was to perform a barrel-roll over Puget Sound, and end his life by way of a kamikaze crash into Ketron Island, where he was the only casualty.

Since the incident, pilots and experts have noted that he was “uncannily skilled” at flying, with Horizon Airline (which had been his employer at the time) CEO Gary Beck remarking, “There were some maneuvers that were done that were incredible.” His only prior experience being from video games…

So this evening, raise a glass to Richard “Beebo” Russell.
Long may he be remembered for his honesty straightforward way of looking at life, and may he rest in peace.

More Later
Big Country

21 thoughts on “Fly High Sky King, I Wish We’d Known You Better”

  2. Reminds of the case out of Indiana of a youngster who stole a plane and flew it to the Bahamas before getting caught.
    On your terms is the only way to go.
    That and making good commie, all commies are subhuman vermin unworthy of the gift of life take them out with axe gun knife.

  4. LOL@ that last meme…. But seriously, if you’ve never listened to the video/audio of his flight, and conversations with the air-traffic dude, make 10 or 15 minutes in your day. Grab a beer, or glass of wine or whatever, and take a few minutes, you’ll appreciate the little things a little more afterwards. Must have been a great guy. RIP SkyKing! You did make a difference in this world.

  5. Eight years already?? Seems like that wasn’t long ago!
    Sometimes ya just gotta live to the fullest and say FU.

    1. thank you for sharing that. Saw it when you posted it on gab, and I hoped to see it again. very cool, from a retired Ramp Supe for Delta and Southwest

  8. What most people miss and its real important. He learned to fly by using video games. Think about that when you think about threats to be aware of. No going to flight school where .GOV might pick up on a problem unless you are a Saudi or Islamic when they planned 9/11.

    We had lots of discussions in DOD after 9/11 about the videos games are extremely accurate in flight training pretty much the same as attending flight school for guys with at least moderate intelligence during that time and NO ONE would consider any capability restrictions. Maybe when it happens again, something will be done.

  9. Not everyone who decides to end it all takes out a US$20 million aircraft in the process…

    1. Perhaps if more of the 30k per year of white male suicides took something of capital value with them on the way out our precious GDP and stonk erection would go flaccid enough for the haves to notice the massive have-nots created by selling out an entire nation of heritage American men for the pleasure of good feels and a golden years full of pickle ball margaritas.

      For the dotmil among us, 80% of veteran self-deletes are white men. Good thing we have more war to build more veterans. Buy the dip.

      Sky King is a living meme now because he juxtaposed the quiet suffering of a dispossessed heritage, dutifully toiling away until suddenly he couldn’t anymore for reasons even he couldn’t articulate, with a dramatic display of skill in maneuvering a complex machine that he was not quite good enough to manage beyond stuffing full of luggage.

      Much like how his calmness and genteel demeanor til the end were at odds with the ultimate act of violence, unfortunately turned against himself and his family instead of the actual machine that has been grinding our people into slouching mouth breathing pajama vapefaced blobs.

      He was a “nice guy” they said. I’m sure he was.

      By the time we actually run out of our greatest resource of young white men with a fire in their belly it will be far too late and the tears of the strong girls with only a few fans as they sell their magic gashes to pajeets for a bowl of vegan curry and olds from under the state sponsored pillow held by the squatamalan “nurse” will ring as hollow as Alaska airlines insurance claim on that airplane.

      Keep being nice. Everything is fine.

      2. I understand your points, Lawrence, and commend your writing.

        While sympathetic to your points, I have to mention that, having been involved in general aviation for decades, I may have a bias towards appreciation of the loss of the aircraft.

        And regarding “run out of our greatest resource of young white men with a fire in their belly”, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with many in my jobs including now. They provide an astonishing level of energy, expertise, and drive in the aerospace and sensors fields providing solutions that save lives in many different fields. While many are military veterans, many others are veteran fire fighters, paramedics, and more. They astonish me daily and I am fortunate to be able to work with them.

        As a twenty three year old with a half century practice of being one (I’m getting pretty good at it), I’ve seen lots of the worst the US has. But also the best. It is my good fortune to be surrounded by more of the latter then the former.

        Including those on this blog. God bless you all – and America!

        1. Yes Brother there is a lot of beauty in the world, many a heritage American quietly keeping it all going best they can. I too am blessed to know many.

          And yet you remind me once again how I have failed to internalize the most important lesson of our time even tho it continues to cost me dearly to time and again, which is that it is about YOU.

          Every single time I back away from the buffet of low hanging fruit that is generational stereotype warfare, I run into an old who will jump on that rake with both feet to tell me how it really is.

          Well played.

          I’ve have more than one Brother that knows what the bidness end of his Glock tastes like because he thought there was something else bigger than himself only to find out all of his virtues have been inverted and lashed to his own destruction and even tho every generation has littered the world with bodies of our best we somehow forget when it’s our hands on the yoke.

          I know you mean well but at this point in my life (55 years in) I’m pretty much done with the sage wisdom of the Before People and any hope that the old America will do anything but fly this baby right into the ground so the apex of their lived experience will be the Truth right up til the horizon bubble swallows them whole.

          To be fair, GenX thinks much higher of ourselves than we have earned too. And the “burn it all” brownshirts behind us are even worse. On it goes.

          So I guess sky king was a bit of a profit. Damn lucky he didn’t hurt anyone else. Maybe Adam smiths invisible hand helped out.

          We remember him because he killed something worth more than himself in a spectacular way but somehow understated and dignified at the same time. A white thing to do, if I do say so.

          He became a footnote on globocorps balance sheet. No small feat.

          8 years later the “market” is worth twice as much and nobody remembers Covid or even last week when we beat Iran again, but sky king lives on.

          You seem nice so I hope the wins keep stacking up for you. My experience has been different. That’s ok. I own my terrible choices. The worst of which is betting against the System. We are all on our own. Maybe someday that will change and we will meet in the field and have a good laugh over the idea of Business Class on a turbo prop.

  12. Saved the video locally and was able to see and hear the whole thing – SWEET!

    Damn it – now I have to get one!

  15. I actually saw him.

    I was working on the roof of a building onbthe Seattle waterfront thst night. Blue dkys, SkyKing.

Comments are closed.