‘#SkyKing’ documentary premieres Tuesday, recounting his daring theft, joyride of a Seattle plane

Starting Tuesday, viewers can watch “#SkyKing,” a new documentary examining the life of Richard “Beebo” Russell, on Hulu.

In 2018, the 28-year-old stole a plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), flew it for about an hour, then crashed it on Ketron Island near Steilacoom. Russell died in the crash.

No one else was on the plane, and no one on the ground was hurt.

Russell’s theft of a turboprop airplane

On Aug. 10, 2018, Russell stole a Horizon Air Q400 turboprop airplane from SEA Airport. He took the plane on a cruise around the Puget Sound region while talking on the radio with the control tower and another pilot, who attempted to talk him down. But audio recordings from that radio conversation hinted that Russell did not intend to return or land the plane.

The FBI report stated that Russell did not make any phone calls while in the cockpit of the airplane. Text messages leading up to the incident also failed to indicate any motive or intention to steal an airplane. There is no evidence that terrorism played a role in the theft.

The investigation also revealed that Russell was familiar with the checklist required to start the airplane. His internet search history indicated that he sought out videos on how to fly an airplane. That is believed to be the extent of his knowledge of how to operate an airplane.

Audio recordings from the air traffic control tower at SEA Airport feature the conversation between the tower and the man who stole a Horizon airplane, flew it over Puget Sound, and crashed it on Ketron Island.

Audio from Beebo comes in clips between other communications involving the control tower and other airplanes. But in the handful of clips — adding up to about 11 minutes — the man can be heard indicating that he wanted to perform maneuvers, but didn’t focus much on landing the plane.

Beebo was jovial and friendly for much of the discussion, talking about how much fuel he had and the sights he saw. He said flying the plane was “a blast” and that he had played video games before, so he had an idea of how to fly it.

He discussed a range of topics with the control tower, including his view that Horizon paid ground service agents very low wages. He asked the pilot on the line how to pressurize the cabin, saying he felt lightheaded and dizzy. He mentioned he threw up at one point. He also apologized for the trouble he caused and hoped it didn’t ruin the controller’s day.

Russell just a ‘ broken guy’ with a ‘few screws loose’

When the air traffic controller or the pilot mentioned places for him to land, such as McChord Air Force Base, Beebo steered the conversation away. After viewing Mount Rainier — and then flying over to see the Olympic Mountains, which he noted were beautiful — he asked for the coordinates of the orca that researchers were trying to help in north Puget Sound. In between these statements, he addressed what he was doing.

“I got a lot of people that care about me,” Beebo said. “And it’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy. Got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.”

Eventually, he became fixated on performing a barrel roll in the turboprop airplane.

“Hey, pilot guy, can this thing do, uh, a backflip thing?” he said.

“I think I’m going to try to do a barrel roll, and if that goes good, I’m just going to go nose down and call it a night,” he later said. “I’m going to do a barrel roll real quick … I feel like I need to be, what do you think, like 5,000 feet at least to pull this barrel roll off.”

At one point, Beebo did roll the plane, coming close to the water.

“Alright, Rich, congratulations, you did that,” the pilot can be heard saying in the recording. “Now let’s turn and land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground.”

“Alright,” Beebo responded. “Ah, damn it. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I don’t want to. I was hoping that was going to be it, ya know.”

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