The Mystery Behind Richard 'Beebo' Russell’s Stolen Plane Tragedy

The day of August 10, 2018, unfolded pretty much like any other at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport—until 28-year-old ground service agent Richard “Beebo” Russell hopped onto an empty passenger plane and took it for an unauthorized and ultimately deadly joyride over the Puget Sound.

The new documentary #SKYKING details the chaos that unfolded in the immediate fallout from Russell’s tragic decision, as well as the life that led up to that point.

Interviews with Russell’s family members, close friends and former colleagues, many of whom have never spoken publicly about the incident, form the backbone of the doc and confront the politicized narratives that quickly spread following Russell’s death. Beebo’s loved ones are also shown listening—for the first time—and reacting to the air traffic control audio that captured the final hour of his life. 

Without their participation, the film’s director Patricia E. Gillespie tells A&E Crime + Investigation there wouldn’t have been a film to begin with.

“It was really brave of them to do that,” Gillespie says, “and they did that in service of others and in order to try and help give Beebo even more of a legacy where he’s helping people keep going. I’m really grateful that they trusted me.”

Russell was born in Florida but moved to Wasilla, Alaska, as a young child. Media reports at the time of the incident noted that he was an active high school athlete, playing both football and track. He started dating his future wife, Hannah, while attending school in Oregon. They married in 2012 and opened a bakery together. 

In 2015, Beebo and his wife moved to Sumner, Wash., to be closer to Hannah’s family and he was hired to work at Sea-Tac by Horizon Air, an Alaska Air subsidiary. He did not have a pilot’s license or formal flight training, but he did have dreams of doing something bigger, writing about his hopes of a promotion at Horizon, or working for the military or law enforcement. 

Not long after takeoff on a $33 million commercial plane, air traffic control at Sea-Tac made radio contact with Russell. According to transcripts of the discussions, the air traffic controller tried to encourage Russell to land the plane at McChord Air Force base twice, but the ground service agent resisted, saying, “Those guys would rough me up if I tried landing there.” 

Russell also commented to ATC that he “[didn’t] want to hurt no one” and that he had “a lot of people that care about me, and it’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this.” He added that he was “just a broken guy. Got a few screws loose I guess. I never really knew it. Until now.”

Near the end of his ride, Russell successfully—and improbably—pulled off a barrel roll, spiraling 360 degrees like a corkscrew. Shortly after that, with the aircraft nearly out of fuel, Russell crashed into a wooded area on nearby Ketron Island and the plane burst into flames.

Almost immediately after Russell’s death, he was painted as an anti-establishment folk hero by some, and a domestic terrorist by others. He was dubbed the "Sky King" after the story went viral on social media. Todd Bunker, a former colleague of Russell’s, wrote an essay in Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger detailing poor morale among the team due to low pay and a “dehumanizing” environment.

In November 2018, the FBI completed its investigation of the incident and declined to pursue federal charges in light of Russell’s death and the lack of co-conspirators. According to the FBI, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the manner of his death to be suicide.

“Although investigators received information regarding Russell’s background, possible stressors, and personal life,” an FBI news release read, “no element provided a clear motivation for Russell’s actions.”

To this day, it remains difficult—if not impossible—to pinpoint exactly what motivated Russell to do what he did. 

In 2016, Dr. Susan Hatters-Friedman, a professor of forensic psychiatry at Case-Western University, co-authored a study on suicides and murder-suicides by aircraft. While incidents like what specifically happened at Sea-Tac are very rare, the study associated factors like legal or money trouble, difficulties at work, mental illness or relationship problems with these tragedies, while drugs or alcohol also played a role in almost half of the suicides analyzed.

“It’s not always mental illness,” Dr. Hatters-Friedman tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “So often we don’t really know what other people have going on.”

Dr. Paul Nestadt, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral disorders at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine whose research focuses on the epidemiology of suicide, emphasizes a similar point.

“We, as a society, tend to assume when someone does something irrational, that doesn’t make sense to us, that they have a mental illness,” Dr. Nestadt tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “In fact, people do crazy things a lot of the time. It doesn’t mean they have a psychiatric diagnosis.”

Russell’s family was devastated by the 28-year-old’s death, and their grief—especially that of his mother Karen—factors prominently into the new doc. While the family has avoided the media, Gillespie says she took interest in Russell’s story and began writing letters to Karen years ago to gauge whether the family would be open to sharing their story. Once Karen agreed to the film, other family and friends soon followed.

Gillespie hopes that resharing Russell’s experience not only helps to tell a fuller story of his life and the decisions that led to its ending, but also to send a message to others out there who might be struggling.

“The point of making the film was to try and undo the sensationalism and get to something deeper,” Gillespie says. “I wanted to provide a clear message about mental health and suicide prevention. I think the most effective way to do that is by showing the impact that he had on his family and his friends.”