Sky king

Richard Russell’s Full Transcript with Air Traffic Control

 

Richard “Beebo” Russell SkyKing Tribute Page

[INAUDIBLE FIRST TRANSMISSION from RICHARD RUSSELL] 0:05:35 Everyone standing by for departure, just hold - hold on with me for a second. 0:09:30 Man, I'm a ground service agent. I don't know what that is. 0:10:51 ... start it up, n' get it to go. Uh, a couple hours I guess. But um, yeah I wouldn't know how to land it. I wasn't really plannin' on landin' it. 0:11:15 ... [INAUDIBLE] on or is this some guy who knows all about it? 0:11:23 ... knows how to fly one of those aircraft but uh, we'll see what we can do and get you in contact with somebody. 0:11:29 Alrighty. Um, yeah I just kinda wanna do a couple maneuvers - see what it can do before I put her down, ya know? 0:15:52 - [INAUDIBLE] can uh reach out to you a little easier. - [INAUDIBLE] a little bit. 0:15:57 I'm sorry. Say that again? 0:15:58 Sorry. I, um, my mic came - came up. I threw up a little bit. 0:16:03 Uh. Ya know. I, uh. Hold o- ah shoot! [CAUTION ALARM] 0:16:09 Man, I'm sorry about this. I hope this doesn't ruin your day. 0:17:06 ... just flyin' the plane around. Do you seem comfortable with that? 0:17:10 Oh hell yeah! It's a blast, man. I've played video games before so I uh, ya know, I know what I'm doin' a little bit. 0:17:17 OK. And uh, and you can see all the terrain around you. Uh, you've got no issue with visibility or anything? 0:17:24 Naw. Everything's peachy. Peachy clean. Just did a little circle around Ranier; it's beautiful. Um, I think I got some gas to go check out uh, the Olympics and uh, yeah. 0:17:38 OK and, and Rich, do you know uh, are you able to tell what altitude you're at? 0:19:06 I threw up all inside of it! It's bad. 0:20:02 ... back and join. I was thinkin' about it and then uh - probably a good thing I didn't. 0:20:58 Yeah, that's all mumbo ju— I have no idea what all that means. I wouldn't know how to, um, punch it in. I'm, I'm uh, off autopilot. 0:21:30 ... me to the jets? 0:21:31 No, I'm not takin' you to any jets. I'm actually keepin' ya away from aircraft that are tryin' to land at SeaTac. 0:21:37 Oh, okay! Yeah, yeah I don't wanna screw with that. I'm glad uh, I'm glad you're not uh, ya know, screwin' up everyone else's day... on account of me. 0:22:55 I'm uh, I'm down to 2100. I started at like 30-something. 0:23:00 [BACKGROUND "... one hundred pounds of fuel"] Rich, you said you had two thousand one hundred pounds of fuel left? 0:23:06 Yeah, uh, I don't know what the burn— burnage, burnout is like on uh, uh, on take off. But uh, yeah it burned quite a bit faster than I expected. 0:23:27 There is the uh, the runway just off your right side in about a mile. Do you see that? That's the uh, that's the uh, that's McCord uh Field. 0:23:37 Oh, man! Those guys would rough me up if I uh, tried landin' there. I think I'd, I think I might mess something up there too. I wouldn't wanna do that. 0:23:45 I'll hopefully... Oh! They've probably got anti-aircraft. 0:23:49 No, they, they don't have any of that stuff. Uh, we, we're just tryin' to find a place for you to land safely. 0:23:56 Yeah, not quite ready to bring it down just yet but holy smokes! I gotta, I gotta stop looking at the fuel 'cause it's going down quick! 0:24:05 OK, Rich, if ya could. Could you start a left hand turn and we'll take you down to the southeast please? 0:24:14 This is probably, uh, like jail time for life, huh? I... I mean I would hope it is for a guy like me? 0:24:19 Well, Rich, we're not, we're not going to worry or think about that but could you start a left hand turn please? 0:24:35 ... and he's gonna try and help you out here a little bit, okay? 0:24:55 ... and I think you might have some questions. Rich, if, uh, I've got a pilot on with us and if ya got any questions, you can ask him now. 0:25:04 Hey, uh. Well first off, you're a little - little breakin' up a bit. Um, maybe I'm too far away. What's the distance on this frequency? 0:25:40 Uh, you are a very calm, collect voice. [CAUTION TERRAIN - CAUTION TERRAIN] 0:26:30 ... hundred, apparently he's a, a grounds crewman with Horizon I guess. And uh, right now he's just flyin' around and uh, he just needs some help controlling his aircraft. 0:26:49 Naw, I mean, I don't need that much help. I've played some video games before. Uh, I would like to figure out how to get this cabin altitude, like I know where the box is. I would like to get some uh, make it, make it pressurized or something so I'm not so lightheaded. 0:27:06 Rich, what's your altitude? 0:28:00 Yeah, I don't know anything, uh, I don't know anything about the autopilot. I'm just kinda hand flyin' right now. 0:28:06 OK. Do you know how fast you're goin'? 0:28:32 ... um, minimum wage. We'll, we'll chalk it up to that. Maybe that'll uh, grease the gears a little bit with the higher ups - maybe uh, yeah. 0:30:31 I think I lost you behind the [INAUDIBLE] a little, but I'm comin' back up. 0:31:25 [INAUDIBLE] somethings in my ear. 0:31:39 Damn it, Andrew! People's lives are at stake here! 0:31:44 Now, Rich. Don't, don't say stuff like that. 0:31:47 Naw, I told you. I'm not, I don't wanna hurt no one. 0:31:50 I just want you to whisper sweet nothings into my ear. 0:32:41 ... would that be than trying to land it? Like, I know how to put the landing gear down. 0:33:15 Put your uh, your power at probably fifty percent. That'd be the two top gauges right in the center on that glass display there. And then, press, uh, well tell me uh, do your power at fifty percent or tell me what you got. 0:33:34 Yeah I got it like [INAUDIBLE] idle. 0:33:37 Well that's too slow. Bring it up to like fifty. 0:34:15 ... other side on the bottom that says HDG and it's got a little blue M on it. You can crank that around and uh... And uh, you know what? Tell ya what. Let's just do this. Um. Push... you see the HDG... HDG button right by that little thumb wheel? 0:35:37 ... know you could do that with these things! Uh, so what would, if you were to do it, how would you do it? 0:35:44 Well I'd try to figure out how to use the autopilot first. 0:35:55 Not concentrate so much on flying the airplane. 0:35:57 Hey. You think if I land this successfully, uh, Alaska will give me a job as a pilot? 0:36:03 Uh, you know, I think they would give you a job doin' anything if you could pull this off. 0:36:07 Yeah, right! 0:36:10 Naw. I'm a white guy. They... 0:37:38 Yeah [INAUDIBLE], man. Hey, FAA guy Andrew. Are you on? 0:37:41 Yeah, I'm still here, Rich. 0:38:14 ...ad but, kinda not either. 0:38:19 ...[INAUDIBLE] uh, if you wanted to land, probably the best bet is that runway just ahead and to your left. Again, that's uh McCord Field. Um, if you wanted to try that might be the best way to set up and see if you can land there. 0:38:35 Or just like the pilot suggested, another option would be over Puget Sound into the water. 0:38:41 Dang, uh. Did you talk to McCord yet? 'Cause I don't think I'd be happy with you telling me I could land like that 'cause I could mess some stuff up. [CAUTION ALARM] 0:38:51 Well, Rich. We already talked to 'em and uh, just like me, what we wanna see is you not get hurt or anybody else get hurt. So like I said, if you wanna try to land that's probably the best place to go. 0:39:05 Hey, I want the coordinates of that orca with the... you know the mama orca with the baby? I wanna go see that guy. 0:40:11 Behind you there's another aircraft. Would you be willing to talk to them? If they're on the frequency and maybe they can help you land? 0:40:32 [INAUDIBLE] back and [INAUDIBLE] water. Hey, what's that airport right there behind me? Like to my left. 0:40:40 OK, Rich. Well first of all we just need you to keep flying the aircraft so if you could just stay there and keep flying the aircraft. The airc... the uh the airport you just passed over on your left, that's the uh Tacoma Narrows Airport. 0:40:54 I mean that's also an option if you wanna try and go there but uh, like I said earlier, McCord that's a bigger runway if you wanted to try to land there 0:41:25 [INAUDIBLE] disgusting, one sec. 0:41:29. Hey, Rich. This is Captain Bill here. We're still listening. My airplane's doin' just fine. How's yours? 0:42:32 He said it would be a better option I think if he tried to land it or even land it on it on the water 0:42:38 Yeah 0:42:41 Hey, is that pilot on? 0:42:43 I wanna know, uh, what this weather's gonna be like at the Olympics. 0:42:47 Um, if you can see the Olympics, the weather's good. 0:42:49 I can see the Olympics from my window and it looks pretty good over there. 0:42:54 Alright 'cause I didn't - I didn't um. It felt like turbulence around Ranier but there was no clouds hardly. 0:43:01 Oh that's just the wind blowing over all the bumpy surfaces there. 0:43:06 Oh, copy that. 0:43:08 (inaudible) Rich, if ya could, uh, maybe start a left hand turn - start turning back around because if you get too close the the Olympics, uh, you won't be able to hear us anymore. 0:43:46 Turn back around here. Like I said, I just wanna keep talking to you and if you keep going towards the Olympic Mountains we won't be able to hear each other. 0:44:18 Turn back around so we can, uh, stay in contact with you. 0:44:21 ... for this issue to be resolved and then we can clear up the taxiways. 0:44:31 I got a lot of people that care about me, and uh... [CAUTION ALARMS] 0:44:35 It's gonna disappoint them, that, to hear that I did this, um... [CAUTION ALARMS] 0:44:42 I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. [CAUTION ALARMS] 0:44:45 um... [CAUTION ALARMS] 0:44:47 Just a broken guy... 0:44:50 Got a few screws loose, I guess. 0:44:52 Never really knew it - 'til now... 0:44:55 Um, just... ya know. 0:45:02 Going to, uh, come in here and start talking to Rich as well. 0:45:47 Is that pretty easy to come by? 0:46:11 Man! Have you been to the Olympics? These guys are gorgeous! Holy smokes. 0:46:16 Yeah I been out there. It's... it's... it's always a nice drive. 0:46:23 ... but ... 0:46:26 ... think I might have to [INAUDIBLE] here. 0:46:29 Yeah, uh, yeah, I bet you do. I haven't done much hiking over there. 0:46:34 And uh, but if ya could, if you could start a left turn and uh, turn back towards the east 0:46:40 I know you're gettin' a good view there but uh, if you go too much further in that direction I won't be able to hear you anymore. 0:46:47 Alrighty, um. Hey, pilot guy! Can this thing do a uh... a back flip you think? 0:47:39 ... gonna land it. 0:47:41 Um, like, uh... in a safe, safe kinda manner. 0:47:45 Think I'm uh, think I'm gonna try to do a barrel roll and if that goes good 0:47:49 then I'm just gonna nose down and call it a night. 0:47:55 Well, Rich, before you do that, let's think about this. 0:47:59 I got another, uh, pilot comin' up - Pilot Joel here - in just a minute or two, I hope. And, uh, we'll be able to give you some advice on what to do next. 0:49:46. We call it a bug. It's like a little (inaudible) rectangle. It's just somewhere around that compass. Do you see that? 0:50:00 Um, just kinda lightheaded, dizzy. Um, man! And ya know the sights went by so fast. Dude, I was thinkin' like gonna have this moment of serenity, ya know I'll be able to take all... in all the sights. Uh, it was a lot of pretty stuff but um, I think that they're prettier in a different context. 0:50:45 ... the right hand side, uh, above ya, on the right hand side. Air conditioning panel, you'll see it's a big panel. There's three switches along the top of it. Make sure all three of those switches are in the down position - facing the nose of the airplane. 0:54:05 ... where I've been at this whole time ... 0:54:07 OK, Rich. Thank you. 0:54:09 2500 to be exact. 0:54:11 OK, thank you. And do you have an idea of how much fuel you have left? 0:54:14 Uh, man! Not enough. Not enough to get by, uh, like, uh, 760 - 760 pounds. 0:54:56 - I'm... gonna do this barrel roll real quick. 0:55:01 - Uh, well no need to do that. If you could just start a turn to the right and then I'll tell ya when to stop turning and then you can keep it level from there. 0:55:46 - I wouldn't mind just shootin' the shit with you guys. But all business, ya know? 0:56:49 - I feel like need to be, what do you think, like 5000 feet at least to be able to pull this barrel roll off? 0:57:09 - [INAUDIBLE] you to get hurt either... Uh, if ya could. I see you're still turning to the right. You wanna maybe start making a turn back to the left a little bit? 0:57:20 - Just lemme know when you get him. (Alright) 0:57:51 - He'd be a hero if he could pull off a landing. 0:58:43 - Start another right hand turn. 0:59:18 - All right, Rich. This is Captain Bill. Congratulations. You, uh, did that. Now let's uh, let's try to land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground. 0:59:27 - All right... ah, damn it! I dunno, man! I dunno! I don't want to. I was kinda hoping that was gonna be it, ya know? [INSTRUMENT ALARMS] 1:01:18 - [INAUDIBLE] ... for long. I feel like one of my engines is going out or something. [FINAL TRANSMISSION] 1:01:22 - OK, Rich. Uh, if ya could, you just want to keep that plane right over the water - maybe keep the aircraft nice and low?

Done