Chilling new footage shows the final moments of a baggage handler who stole a plane and took it for a joyride, before purposefully crashing it.
Surveillance footage from Seattle Airport shows baggage handler Richard Russell, 29, moving through the transit hub wearing a T-shirt with "The Sky's No Limit" emblazoned across the back.
In the video Russell is seen going through security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport where he smiles at an agent as he passes through the scanner.
Five hours later he was next spotted in a restricted area where he clambers onto a tow vehicle and brazenly moves the plane he is about to hijack onto the runway, the New York Post reported.
Russell then opens the cabin door, jumps in the cockpit and takes off in the Q400 Turboprop - which is designed for short to medium haul journeys.
Once aboard the Alaska Airline plane he told the stunned air traffic controller: "Seattle ground Horizon guy. About to take off. It's gonna be crazy.
"Hey, I found myself in a predicament. I'm in the air right now. And just gonna soar around."
During the joy ride he joked with controllers about his lack of skills as they tried to talk him down and even offered advice on how to land the aircraft safely.
He is heard joking: “Hey, do you think if I land this successfully Alaska will give me a job as a pilot?"
After “soaring around” for a short while he crashed the aircraft on a deserted island around 30 miles from Seattle, Washington.
His shocking death in 2018 was later ruled a suicide.
Earlier the air traffic controllers had asked several times who was aboard the plane being readied for take off without permission or a flight plan logged.
One is heard saying: “Who is the aircraft on Runway 1-6 centre?”
Another pilot urged air traffic control to urgently contact the mystery would-be flyer.
In the video the pilot is heard saying: “Tower, you need to call and scramble now.”
An FBI report revealed how Russell said he knew how to fly the aircraft solo because he'd played video games in the past.
The report said there was no "clear motivation" for his bizarre actions after investigators probed his "background, possible stressors and personal life".
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