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« on: August 12, 2018, 01:23:24 AM »
e crashed on an island in Puget Sound Friday night, not long after a suspect conducted an "unauthorized take-off" from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington state, officials said.
Witnesses reported seeing a large plume of smoke in the air above Ketron Island after the plane went down. No passengers were believed to be aboard the Q400 aircraft, airport officials said.
No one on the sparsely inhabited island was believed to have been injured, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said on Twitter.
In another instance, the suspect joked whether the airline would hire him as a pilot if he landed the plane safely.
Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said the man "did something foolish and may well have paid with his life."
The sheriff's department said it was launching a background investigation on the suspect.
The man, who was addressed as "Rich" in audio recordings with air traffic controllers, said he didn't want to land at a nearby military base because, "Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there."
The crash of the Q400 -- described as a 76-seat aircraft designed for short trips -- occurred because the pilot was "doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills," the sheriff's department said.
Airport officials said that operations at the airport had resumed after being temporarily halted.
Some unconfirmed reports on social media said the suspect was believed to have been an airline mechanic. Alaska Airlines later said he was an employee who helped direct aircraft to gates and de-ice planes.
Around 9:15 p.m. PDT, Alaska Airlines tweeted: "We are aware of an incident involving an unauthorized take-off of a Horizon Air Q400. We believe there are no passengers on board. More information as we learn more."
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a message soon after the take-off:
"We can't confirm anything at this time. We're trying to get accurate information about what is actually going on. Without confirming anything, a stolen aircraft would be a security issue."
Authorities said there was no connection to terrorism.
A spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said F-15 aircraft scambled out of Portland, Ore., and were in the air “within a few minutes” in order to keep “people on the ground safe.”
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