I'm not convinced it was a suicide. Perhaps officials know something we don't. But his words don't necessarily show suicidal intent. He many have simply crashed. Because he was really, really high. He sure sounded like it.

Seemed suicidal to me for your last words to be something along the lines of, 'Let's see how this loopdyloop goes before I put her nose-down and call it a night...'

He said a few times that he had no intention of landing.. He said he was actually surprised he was able to complete the barrel roll. Said that now its time to nose it over and call it a night. Sad.. indeed.. Was just tired of his mediocre life as a baggage handler making minimum wage and working in the rain. Said he hoped this was an eye opener for the higher ups..

The F-15s were from 142nd at PDX. Reading that is the only base between NoCal and Canada that has interceptors on ready at all times.

I give him....props.

For a creative suicide and not forcing his family to find his body.

As sad as this is, the outcome was infinitely better than shooting up a bunch of people at a country music concert.

Mental illness, it affects us all.

You mean........turbo props?

Sorry to joke about what is a horribly sad event. What is this global depression we face? Is it social media overload?


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Was he just lucky in flying the plane or did he really “learn” to fly playing games or watching videos?

He mentioned being light headed and asked about pressuring the cabin. I wouldn’t think he was high enough for that. More likely, the loop, excitement, etc contributed to it.

I thought the same thing. Looked too low an altitude to be having issues with oxygen.

The footage of the loopdyloop is incredible. It looked like he was within a couple hundred feet of hitting the water at the bottom. Seemed like those moves would make one light headed and vomitous - - not the lack of pressurization.

And he didn't seem high to me at all - - more like completely pumped on adrenaline from what had happened and was he knew was going to happen. Seemed like a normal (and arguably intelligent) guy that just snapped.

Not celebrating him, but am thankful that he didn't injure anyone.

For the pilots: I assume there's no such thing as keys for the operation of such aircraft? Or would he have had access to them anyway?

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You can learn a lot from games and videos but a pretty significant transition occurs once everything starts moving and adding a third dimension for flight and flight controls is a real game changer. Can't imagine it going longer than a few seconds or so if someone had tried it with a helicopter.

Another Q400 training video. A quick study could get pretty familiar with the cockpit layout and procedures.


Q400 Flight BHX-JER Cockpit Preparation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df-QrW8txWU

Not a Q400, but I thought this video of a guy who [successfully] flew and landed a small aircraft with nothing but computer simulator time was pretty interesting.

He said it felt much different than he expected, but he otherwise got it done.

https://youtu.be/jJT_CACIZqs


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It was clear that he never intended to come back.
"Congratulations. You did that. Now let's land that airplane safely and don't hurt anybody on the ground," the helping pilot radios.
Russell responds: "I don't want to. I was kinda hoping that was going to be it. You know?"


He also appeared to know how to fly and do tricks.
One of the onlookers said, "The plane just did a loop-d-loop"
And it did in the footage.

Turns out my SIL visited the guy's Coos Bay/North Bend, OR bakery multiple times and spoken to him repeatedly. She had nothing but good things to say about him (and his food). Small world.

From my limited experience (about 100 hrs in Cessnas and Pipers) operating the plane is pretty intuitive. Communicating with the tower and navigating are the bigger challenges.

I understand he used a tug to turn it around, but how did he get in the plane?

I assume it didn’t have built in stairs, so did he use a ladder? What else could he use that wouldn’t be in the way after closing the door and motoring off into the sunset?

But it does have built in 'stairs'... has an airstair door. Like a private jet. The door bottom is only about 3' - 4' off the ground.

And you don't need a 'key'... just open the latch, climb in and shut the door...

Do a search "Q400"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/pilot-dies-plane-crashes-utah-home-couple-inside/story?id=57152375

Another plane stolen. This time a jet, and the pilot crashes into his house, but his wife survives.

Good grief. You know that woman’s initial reaction had to be ‘my god how can one person have this much crap happen in one day!’

Stop leaving the keys in the ignition!!!