the story of the sky king

If something moves me to tears, I write it down. Here is one such story.

Richard “Sky King” Russell was a Florida-born ground service worker for Horizon Air in Alaska while concurrently studying social sciences at Washington State University. He wanted to be a military officer.

On August 10, 2018, at 7:33 p.m., when no one was paying attention, Richard hijacked a company airplane. His job taught him the skills to drive it on the ground, but never the air.

For the next hour, he flew.

An audio recording of his conversation with the control tower — who were calmly and desperately trying to get him to land — has him gawking at the natural beauty of the mountains.

“This is probably like jail time for life, huh? I mean I would hope it is for a guy like me,"

The control tower operator desperately tries to get him to land the plane safely, but Richard doesn’t seem to have that in his plans.

“You think they’ll give me a job as a pilot if I land this?”
“I think they’ll give you a job anywhere.”
“Haha. I doubt that.”

"I'm gonna try to do a barrel roll and if that goes good, then I'm just gonna nose down and call it a night."

And that’s exactly what he does.

First, the barrel roll — which the tower, in disbelief, announces over the radio — then the crash.

He never intended to survive.

After FBI investigation, they found no evidence of suicidal tendencies. But he did mention this in the air: “Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.”

So why’d he do it?

“Minimum wage, we’ll chalk it up to that. Maybe that will grease some gears a little bit with the higher-ups.”

The #1 Daily Health Habit

Between meetings, errands, and endless to-dos, your health should feel like a steady rhythm, not another task.

That's where AG1 comes in.

With 75+ vitamins, minerals and pro/prebiotics - it’s one of the easiest things you can do for your health –all for less than $3 a day.

Get a FREE AG1 Welcome Kit!