Man tries to steal SkyWest aircraft!

[mawheatley]

Full story here:

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/state/story/UPDATE-Man-tried-to-steal-SkyWest-plane-committed/pVXSNLRCo0i-6lGyj_rEjQ.cspx

Apparently he's a licensed, commercial pilot, an employee of SkyWest who was on administrative leave.

He clipped another aircraft, a fence, damaged the terminal and some cars, then killed himself.

[Eric Diffoot]

Wow. The fact that it occured around midnight, especially at an untowered airport and on top of a plateau away from the city of St. George. Surprised he got into the CRJ, powered it up, clipped the terminal, and crashed it into parked cars....some serious security reviews are going to happen soon.

[AVION1]

I assume the runway was closed, and lights were off.
So he was trying to take off from a dark runway.
In some airports you can turn on the lights, with your mic. with just 3 clicks.
Not sure about this airport.

[Deadstick]

He must have been drunk!

[Evan]

...fob?

[snydersnapshots]

I assume the runway was closed, and lights were off.
So he was trying to take off from a dark runway.
In some airports you can turn on the lights, with your mic. with just 3 clicks.
Not sure about this airport.

According to the Airport Facility Directory in AOPA's iPod app, the St. George airport has pilot controlled lighting. I'm going to assume that if he was a Sky West pilot based in Utah, he was probably familiar with the St. George airport. It will be interesting to find out what the investigation reveals.

The knee-jerk TSA reaction will probably include preventing pilots from having access to the aircraft without a complete background check and psychological exam prior to each flight...

[orangehuggy]

By far the strangest airliner occurrence this century, my calculations did not predict this

[Deadstick]

Yes but what if he didn't have his charts and didn't know the secret code for turning on the runway lights! There could be a hidden conspiracy about running through the fence, crashing into cars and then shooting himself! Did he shut down the engines? Did he have the reverser buckets out? Did he shoot himself in the right or left side of the head? These things are all important.

[Gabriel]

Yes but what if he didn't have his charts and didn't know the secret code for turning on the runway lights! There could be a hidden conspiracy about running through the fence, crashing into cars and then shooting himself! Did he shut down the engines? Did he have the reverser buckets out? Did he shoot himself in the right or left side of the head? These things are all important.

I don't know what you've been smoking, but I want some.

[Chris Kilroy]

This guy was up to more than trying to hit the terminal with the wing and run the airplane into the parking lot at SGU. We'll likely never know what, but, in a different world, the outcome obviously could have been a lot worse.

[Evan]

This guy was up to more than trying to hit the terminal with the wing and run the airplane into the parking lot at SGU.

He was a fugitive wanted in connection with a murder. I'm guessing he was trying to do a 'barefoot bandit' style vanishing act. My question is: is there any reason to expect that an out-of-service CRJ would have enough fuel on board to get anywhere?

[Gabriel]

My question is: is there any reason to expect that an out-of-service CRJ would have enough fuel on board to get anywhere?

Well, I don't know a CRJ, but in the GA world it is usually recommended that, unless specifically you don't want a full tank, you keep the tanks full for two reasons:
1) Fuel vapors that remain in the empty space in the tanks (that has a name in English that I don't remember) are by far a greater fire/explosion risk than the fuel itself.
2) The empty space has air including its natural moisture. The larger the space the more water you have there, and also the larger the "free" surface where the water vapor can condensate, thus the grater risk of fuel contamination with water.

[Gabriel]

He was a fugitive wanted in connection with a murder. I'm guessing he was trying to do a 'barefoot bandit' style vanishing act. My question is: is there any reason to expect that an out-of-service CRJ would have enough fuel on board to get anywhere?

He had a firearm, probably had committed homicide, and I don't think that the suicide was an idea that he got for the first time when the airplane trick failed. He was also at administrative leave in his work in the airline.

I think that it is more likely to think that his intention was to kill himself while destroying some airline's property in the process, like crashing the plane against a ramp or hangar with more planes. It has been attempted before more than once, some times successfully and sometimes not.

And you don't need a lot of fuel to do that.

[snydersnapshots]

Well, I don't know a CRJ, but in the GA world it is usually recommended that, unless specifically you don't want a full tank, you keep the tanks full for two reasons:
1) Fuel vapors that remain in the empty space in the tanks (that has a name in English that I don't remember) are by far a greater fire/explosion risk than the fuel itself.
2) The empty space has air including its natural moisture. The larger the space the more water you have there, and also the larger the "free" surface where the water vapor can condensate, thus the grater risk of fuel contamination with water.

The RJ probably did NOT have full tanks. They rarely top off the tanks in an airplane like that since the extra fuel cuts into the payload.

[Highkeas]

....................I think that it is more likely to think that his intention was to kill himself while destroying some airline's property in the process, ..............
.................

This reminds me of PSA 1771 where a fired guy had a beef against his supervisor.