>>1546745Anon, did I ever tell you about Richard "Skyking" Russell? He was just your average Joe. High school athlete, found Christ, married a wonderful woman and started a business with her. Found work at Horizon Air around Seattle, moving planes around at Sea-Tac, co-workers loved him. He never flew, though, guy didn't have a license. Never once knew what it was like to truly fly. But something happened in his life. We don't know what it was, and we never shall, but he wanted to end it all. So, he did what he had to. He took control of a Dash 8, pushed back, and took off. He didn't want to hurt anybody. He just wanted to truly live out the rest of his life in the sky. He was friendly with the air traffic controllers. His honesty was brutal. He called himself a broken guy. Somebody with a few screws loose. He looked over the Olympics and commented on how gorgeous they were. He talked about whispering sweet nothings into his ear and wondering if he could do a barrel roll like he'd seen in the video games. And he did. The man executed a perfect barrel roll in a Dash 8 and cleared the water by mere feet. It was captured by amateurs on their video cameras. Anybody can go online and see this man, with no piloting experience, do a barrel roll as if he was a veteran stuntman, and he did it in a Dash 8. But he knew all good things would come to an end. He knew he was facing time behind bars if he landed at one of the airports. He didn't want that devastation. He wanted to ride out the greatest high he'd ever had. So he pushed the nose down, closed his eyes, and crashed into a small island. He didn't harm a single soul doing what he did. You might say he harmed himself, but you'd be wrong. He was in pain. For the last hour of his life, he didn't have to be. He healed to the very end and flew out of the mortal coil with a smile on his face. He's up there right now with superstar pilot van Zanten, ramming those Pan-Am fucking shits on God's runway.
And he was a good friend.
