‘I am broken’: Man who crashed Alaska Airlines plane told air traffic controllers

Witnesses reported seeing a plane being chased by military planes near Seattle airport. Alaska Airlines, whose aircraft it was, said no passengers were on board.

The mechanic who stole a Horizon Air plane from a Seattle airport had reportedly told the air traffic controllers that he was a “broken guy”. He also joked about whether the airline would hire him as a pilot if he landed safely.

The airline tells The Associated Press that the plane was a Horizon Air Q400 and it believed no passengers were on board. (AP File Photo)

The man, who was addressed as “Rich” in audio recordings with air traffic controllers, said he didn’t want to land at a nearby military base. “Those guys will rough me up if I try and land there,” he said, according to Associated Press.

Two military F-15 jets were scrambled late Friday after the “suicidal” airline worker stole and later crashed an empty passenger plane from the Seattle-Tacoma airport, local officials said

Local authorities quickly ruled out terrorism as a motive for the incident, and said the F-15s “were not involved in the crash”, according to AFP.

An airline employee “conducted an unauthorized take-off” of an airplane carrying no passengers at the major airport in the northwestern US state of Washington, airport officials said on Twitter.

The aircraft “crashed in south Puget Sound,” Sea-Tac Airport said, adding that normal operations at the transport hub had resumed after a pause.

“This is not a terrorist incident. Confirmed info... this is a single suicide male. We know who he is. No others

“This is not a terrorist incident. Confirmed info... this is a single suicide male. We know who he is. No others involved,” the Pierce County Sheriff said.