Hulu documentary revisits the viral story of Pierce County’s “#SkyKing”
On the eve of August 10, 2018, a Pierce County man did the unthinkable.
Without any prior piloting experience, 28-year-old ground service agent Richard “Beebo” Russell stole a passenger plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, flying and performing stunts in the sky for over an hour until he crashed on Ketron Island.
Russell acted alone and was the only casualty. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a suicide.
In the years since the incident, his story has resonated across the internet, especially among those with mental health issues, and earned him the title of “#SkyKing”.
Nearly eight years later, a documentary by director Patricia Gillespie revisits Russell’s fascinating story and the legacy it left behind.
“When you see what went on online, it got so polarized and everybody wanted to make him the poster boy of whatever their thing was at the moment. It was clear that a lot of the story was missing, and so I saw my job as trying to figure out what piece of that story we’re missing,” Gillespie told The Seattle Times.
“#SKYKING: Panic in the Sky” premiered Tuesday on Hulu. Throughout the 70-minute film, real CCTV footage and air traffic control recordings from the fated day are intermixed with emotional interviews from Russell’s loved ones.
Russell lived in Sumner and was described by his family in a statement to the media as a “warm, compassionate man.” He loved Alaska, the state he grew up in, and was remembered as an active participant in his high school’s athletic teams.
He worked for Horizon Air for over three years, serving as a ground agent, baggage handler and part of the “tow team.” But he was never a pilot. His closest experience was from video games.
What he lacked in training, he made up for in courage.
At around 7:30 p.m. on August 10, Russell climbed into an empty turboprop 76-passenger aircraft, started the plane, towed it to face the airfield then took to the skies.
He flew for approximately an hour and ten minutes, marveling at the Olympics and expressing his desire to try aerobatics over the radio to Air Traffic Control as he flew around Puget Sound.
Though ATC and fighter jets tried their best to convince him to land, it was to no avail. With just minutes of fuel left, Russell completed a barrel roll and crashed into the sparsely populated Ketron Island.
Before taking his final descent, Russell expressed remorse for his actions.
“I got a lot of people that care about me and it’s going to disappoint them to hear about this,” Russell is heard saying to ground control. “I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy. Got a few screws loose. Never knew it until now.”
While Russell is the beating heart of the documentary, the director also wanted to honor the community of Internet users that connected to the story of the “Sky King”.
Social media users edited footage of his flight and conversation with ATC into tribute videos for Russell, often over the songs “My Tears Are Becoming a Sea” and “Outro” by M83. Gillespie made sure to include those pieces of music in her work.
“This was something that existed on the internet that moved a lot of people that went viral,” Gillespie told The Seattle Times. “I thought it was beautiful that this grandiose piece of music that’s often associated with these big, hero moments was applied to this guy. There was something about it that I found moving.”
