an aircraft crashed near seattle, washington, after a mechanic stole it from the main airport. the plane went down on ketron island. 40 mild or 65 kilometer thousands, southwest of the airport. the aircraft took off without authorization or passengers. the person at the controls of the plane. this is what we know. that person identified as a 29-year-old horizon air mechanic from pierce county, washington, according to officials who say they are doing background on him. it is believed that the mechanic s lack of flying skills. and in other words he didn t know how to fly the plane well. that s what led to the crash the he knew enough to take off. not enough to land it. the pierce county sheriff says this was not a terrorism related incident. this was a suicide flight. horizon air issued a statement following the crash. here is, horizon air chief
to cause harm, aspiring to cause a mass loss to life and do they have a cape built fee to do so. do they have access to weapons? do they have access to some type of harmful device that would then allow them to fulfill their aspirations. here it appears they have capability. he was able to somehow make his way into the cockpit of an air craft and take off and get this vehicle airborne, but it doesn t appear and again there is a lot that we don t know right now. it doesn t appear that he had that aspiration to actually cause a massive loss of life. so, that is the bullet that we dodged right here. this doesn t mean that we are out of the woods. this will be a lengthy investigation. national transportation safety board on their way now with one of the go teams. probably locally. back in washington, d.c. headed to the site to start the investigation. they will be looking to deter men how did this happen. how did this person gain this access into the aircraft. and what, systems do we need h
manage to take off and would use that as cover to take off? just, no one ever thought of that possibility team. what you are telling me? no one acted on it? i think that is certainly a fair characterization. that s not something that, that, the government has addressed yet. now they have, increased security for people, trying to get into the airport, you know the fences and so on. they have been beefed up. there are cameras, so on, that most 9/11, much more, much more elaborate than, than, before. and we have all seen what happens, for passengers and even employees trying to, get through security. at, at airports. no, i think that is a fair characterization, cyril, no one has really considered this yet. and as far as i know. in the states, there have been other examples of mechanics taking air craft, in other countries. and, and, because they had a grievance against the company and crashing them and so on. there has been or haven t
taxiway. other than things like employee assistance programs. and alcohol detection programs. most mechanics do have to take peer odd alcohol and drug test thousands. once somebody decide. a mccannic they will fake an aircraft. they are sophisticated enough to talk to the ground controllers. quite quickly get the aircraft out into a position where it could take off. i don t think, i don t think they would have had much time to react. before you move tult other point. we will get to it. if i can stop you for a second. would that be fair to say, that that is a glaring vulnerability in the system. or too harsh? clearly, a vulnerability.
i can tell you two aspects. looking at both those in the cockpit or anyone in vicinity able to manipulate an aircraft. obviously going to want to, dive into all the people. their background. their lives. deter mmine who did it. structural integrity of the aircraft. you look at. comes done to the person. talk about dodging a bullet. obviously we don t have passengers on board. would have been nightmare scenario if the person took off without passengers. investigators will say with certainty they know who is responsible. then back to the investigative piece. what was the person s psychology. how was this person able to do this. what was in the background missed. # they will determine are the best practices here, to ensure we can look at, again across the map to other airports. other airlines, other mechanics. something with, that is, specific to this person. that we can then compare with a