This Seattle Plane 'Hijacking'

Toffee in Jandals · August 12, 2018

SerenityNigh said:
What’s scary about this is how much this guy knew about how to fly (he could take off and he could work the radio, as well as better than average rolls) and how easy it was to access the airplane

Was thinking that. To be fair, it requires some talent for him to do what he did when his only cockpit flying experience is on video games, or presumably, googling "How to fly a Bombardier Q400".

ilikecheese · August 12, 2018

It wasn't me.

Might have been @RaleighBlue.

SerenityNigh · August 12, 2018

Toffee in Jandals said:
Was thinking that. To be fair, it requires some talent for him to do what he did when his only cockpit flying experience is on video games, or presumably, googling "How to fly a Bombardier Q400".

Presumably he worked for Horizon or Alaska in their maintenance department, but even if he knew how the systems worked that’s no guarantee of execution

PhilM · August 12, 2018

SerenityNigh said:
What’s scary about this is how much this guy knew about how to fly (he could take off and he could work the radio, as well as better than average rolls) and how easy it was to access the airplane

From all accounts, he had legimiate access to the air-side of the airport through his job and was working in uniform at the time, or had just ended his shift.

How he flew the plane is a completely different matter as he must have some form of knowledge to taxi the plane and take off. It's quite remarkable really!

The whole thing though is very sad as it appears as if he was having some form of episode possibly from depression. Just goes to show how big a problem it is.

As a young man, you're more likely to die from suicide than you are from natural causes - let that sink in!

longers · August 12, 2018

Toffee in Jandals said:
Was thinking that. To be fair, it requires some talent for him to do what he did when his only cockpit flying experience is on video games, or presumably, googling "How to fly a Bombardier Q400".

You’d be surprised how accurate modern flight sims can be nowadays, could have easily learned how to do it from something like FSX or Xplane... that combined with a bit of luck and it’s not that hard to believe he pulled it off.

ClausThomsen · August 12, 2018

longers said:
You’d be surprised how accurate modern flight sims can be nowadays, could have easily learned how to do it from something like FSX or Xplane... that combined with a bit of luck and it’s not that hard to believe he pulled it off.

I've not played an in-depth one in years but professional pilots have been trained on computer sims for a long time so I imagine a modern serious sim on a home PC would have better software than the older multi-million training sims used by airlines in the late 20th Century.