airport, moves the plane from here to there. you don t need a tug. you are qualified to turn it on. power it up. you are just not qualified off to take it off. because you re not a pilot. you don t have the pilots tickets. this person obviously had some training. and, knew the plane very well. because, he is a mechanic. so knew how to put the gear up. knew the important speed at which you ve could take off. avoid stalling. got the engine, you know, two engines. now this q-400 it is a remake of an older plane. they upgreat!$!!aded t,madeeng faster. ten years ago this was a new version of an older turbo prop, belter better engines. respectfully, i was listening intently to vetting there is for pilot, versus vetting for mechanic. while it makes sense on its face, listening to you, it seems to me loike today has uncovered
obviously he could have caused a disaster in the air, although all modern passenger aircraft have automatic avoidance equipment on it. we don t know what he had turned on this plane, but the controllers had to keep not only him and others safe on the ground, but once in the air, they had to keep him away from everybody else. and there is so much focus and attention on security, people going into airports, passengers getting on to planes. but look, this really raises another question, another issue that certainly will be flushed out as this investigation is under way. mary schiavo, thank you so much for being with us and we ll keep in touch. again, in breaking story of course we ll continue to follow it here on cnn. another major story to tell you about as this weekend pushes forward, a very grim anniversary. in charlottesville, how that city traumatized by racists, white nationalists, nazis. how it is preparing for this
ground. no buildings were hit when the plane crashed. the aircraft took off without authorization and without passengers onboard friday night. the local county sheriff was stressing this was not linked to terrorism. this was a person at the controls of the plane who is identified as a 29-year-old horizon air ground service agent who s from the local area. earlier, we spoke with john wald. ron:, he captured some remarkable video of the stolen plane. thank you for having me here with you tonight. i decided to go down to chambers bay for a nightly walk. you know, like i often do. and i notice, i noticed a couple of f-15s flying around, which isn t uncommon in this area with mccord air force base nearby and then i notice a turbo prop flying around and the two airplanes seem to be chasing it
plane. i don t think this was the first flight certainly. and the communications back and forth with the tower at one point asking if there were other pilots on the line, asking about what kind of chop he would get into over the mountain areas. this went on for quite a period of time and it did emso liseem e air traffic controller had some familiarity with them. so as the picture becomes, you know, more and more flushed out, this is someone who was familiar with the airport. you know, you almost are tempted to say it was someone who kind of snapped because he clearly enjoyed the flight, enjoyed the role and loop that he performed, sounded anyway, surprised that he was able to do that loop. that is difficult do especially in a twin engine aircraft that is not made do that.
flying it, taking it for what seems to be a joy ride in his mind. but here is the bigger question at this point. a mechanic who stole a plane. we understand that mechanics, many of them have what is called run and taxi qualification meaning that they can take a plane, they can move it along the taxi way, you know, that is within the realm of their ability. so do you think that that will be scrutinized a bit more given what we saw happen at sea-tac? because it does seem now like a security issue. that is very interesting. al lats caaska airlines just mio go announced that he technically wasn t a mechanic, he was a ground service person who helped one of those guys that helps direct the arn airplanes parking and deicing them. so he actually didn t have what they call an amp, airplane and power plant license. wait just a minute.