HORIZON AIR INCIDENT QUESTIONS RAISED, QUESTIONS ANSWERED
THIS YEAR, SEATTLE-TACOMA International Airport — commonly referred to as ‘Sea-Tac’ — celebrates 69 years of service to the community in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. Ranked ninth for busiest airports in the United States, it sits in a beautiful location 433ft above sea level. For aviation lovers, it’s a pretty idyllic spot: evergreen trees, the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula in the distance and plenty of airplanes adorned in all manner of vibrant liveries.
I have pleasant memories from my trips through Sea-Tac. Most of the time, it’s been traveling to or from Alaska, or back to my home state. It’s a lively, vibrant airport with a lot of glass and timber accents, museum-quality displays of historical pieces, and the kind of laid-back, warm, inviting atmosphere Seattle aspires to. The food options on offer are plentiful and decent, it’s easy to navigate, and it has been a gateway to adventure for tens of millions of people each year.
As sunset loomed on August 10, 2018, Richard Russell, a 28-year-old ground service agent for Horizon Air, managed to steal a company Bombardier Dash 8 Q400-series aircraft, taking-of without permissi…