Skywest pilot attempts to steal company plane

What was he actually hoping to accomplish if he had gotten that thing air born? He wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. He would have had Nellis jets on him pretty fast. Maybe he was planning to missile the jet into the SKW HQ? This is such a wacky story. The one thing we do know is the guy had every intention of ending his life in one way or another. It could have been a lot worse I suppose.
 
SeanD said:
What was he actually hoping to accomplish if he had gotten that thing air born? He wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. He would have had Nellis jets on him pretty fast. Maybe he was planning to missile the jet into the SKW HQ? This is such a wacky story. The one thing we do know is the guy had every intention of ending his life in one way or another. It could have been a lot worse I suppose.
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Depends. Nellis doesn't have alert armed aircraft, neither does Hill; although Im sure one or more of their planes could've been diverted from training missions if need be. It could've been anything he was planning. We'll never know if he was planning anything, near or far, or if he even had a plan at all.
 
MikeD said:
While I won't discount anything yet, to me, the three most viable scenarios are, as I mentioned before:

1. Premeditated murder of gf. Premeditated theft of an airplane.
2. Accidental or negligent killing of gf....argument or something like that....and theft of airplane was an act of desperation.
3. Crime of passion. And theft of airplane was either preplanned or desperation.
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I think #3
 
SeanD said:
What was he actually hoping to accomplish if he had gotten that thing air born? He wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. He would have had Nellis jets on him pretty fast. Maybe he was planning to missile the jet into the SKW HQ? This is such a wacky story. The one thing we do know is the guy had every intention of ending his life in one way or another. It could have been a lot worse I suppose.
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I don't think so. He could have easily just pretended he was a normal reposition flight until he got close to his "goal." I would be interested to know if he filed a flight plan, and to where.
 
MikeD said:
We'll never know if he was planning anything, near or far, or if he even had a plan at all.
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Assuming no one saw him takeoff. Turn off the transponder and head out to sea until the tanks are dry? It's happened before.

Wonder if the plane had been serviced after landing?
 
fholbert said:
Assuming no one saw him takeoff. Turn off the transponder and head out to sea until the tanks are dry? It's happened before.

Wonder if the plane had been serviced after landing?
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I think it was a RON so Im thinking it had been serviced for the evening. I dont know how SGU does it.
 
My wife watches Disney because she says she hates watching the news because she feels depressed. I feel that way now. This story really depresses me. On so many levels.

Back in the day I had to scale a fence to get to my 172 I rented to get out that night. Kinda messed up but just funny how nothing has changed, if someone wants to do something they will find a way. This a pretty messed up scenario something will probably come of it (and should). There really should be no way someone could get access to an aircraft like that.
 
SeanD said:
What was he actually hoping to accomplish if he had gotten that thing air born? He wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes. He would have had Nellis jets on him pretty fast. Maybe he was planning to missile the jet into the SKW HQ? This is such a wacky story. The one thing we do know is the guy had every intention of ending his life in one way or another. It could have been a lot worse I suppose.
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Wouldn't be the first time that a pilot tried to missile into company HQ.
 
MikeD said:
Depends. Nellis doesn't have alert armed aircraft, neither does Hill; although Im sure one or more of their planes could've been diverted from training missions if need be. It could've been anything he was planning. We'll never know if he was planning anything, near or far, or if he even had a plan at all.
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The fact he brought a carpet on a motorcycle to sling over the barb wire on the fence tells me had something planned. Your right though, we will never know.
 
SeanD said:
The fact he brought a carpet on a motorcycle to sling over the barb wire on the fence tells me had something planned. Your right though, we will never know.
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This is what I was thinking too. The murder could have very well been #3 (crime of passion), but you don't carry a rug with you on a motorcycle to an airport perimeter unless you have something already planned out. Whether he had his mind made up through getting on the ramp, or getting in an airplane, or getting it in the air and running it into something, we won't know (unless he left a note).

FWIW MikeD is right that you don't need an extensive history of being a domestic abuser to get a restraining order filed against you. Anyone can file for a temporary restraining order (TRO) after one incident. Sounded like he showed up at her place and started breaking stuff and she thought she could handle it, but her friend called police on her behalf.
 
I can't imagine the plane would be fueled ahead of it being dispatched the next day. Obviously there would be some FOB left over from the previous flight, but not a whole lot.
 
staplegun said:
I think he forgot to pull the nosewheel-steering bypass pin!

(Thankfully...)

Kevin
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The CRJ doesn't have one. The pin just prevents the gear from retracting.

(although that that may have been some joke that just went entirely over my head)
 
Van_Hoolio said:
I can't imagine the plane would be fueled ahead of it being dispatched the next day. Obviously there would be some FOB left over from the previous flight, but not a whole lot.
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Dunno how the airline world does it, but in the USAF they like to keep the tanks full when the airplane sits to reduce condensation buildup in the tanks when it cools down overnight. That means the jet gets refueled right after it lands, regardless of when it's flying next.
 
Hacker15e said:
Dunno how the airline world does it, but in the USAF they like to keep the tanks full when the airplane sits to reduce condensation buildup in the tanks when it cools down overnight. That means the jet gets refueled right after it lands, regardless of when it's flying next.
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I think a lot of airlines wait to fuel the plane until they know the load. I saw fuel loads of ~3500 lbs all the way up to 10000+ in the CRJ. Even on shorter flights, alternate requirements can add on hundreds or thousands of pounds, so they generally wait until the release comes through (~45min-1hr prior to departure). The tanks on CRJ's are rarely full anyway.
 
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