Sky King / Richard Russell

About

"Sky King" is a nickname given to 29-year-old ground service operator Richard Russell after he stole a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 airliner from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) and died after crashing on Ketron Island in Puget Sound. The incident spawned numerous image macros, photoshops and fan arts on 4chan and other online communities.

Origin

On August 10th, 2018, Russell stole the airliner from a maintenance position at the Sea-Tac airport. After attempting the aircraft took off, two F-15 fighter jets were deployed.

That day, Boston Globe journalist Matt Karolian tweeted a link to the Sea-Tac air traffic control broadcast, followed by an announcement that Russell revealed he would attempt a barrel roll maneuver (shown below).

After performing the stunt, along with other maneuvers, the plane crashed on Ketron Island in the Puget Sound. Russell, the sole occupant of the aircraft, perished in the crash.

On August 11th, 2018, a post about the plane crash was submitted to 4chan's /pol/ board,^[1] where an anonymous user replied "Sky King?" (shown below).^[9]

Spread

On August 11th, 2018, journalist Jimmy Tomson tweeted out a series of audio clips in which Russell can be heard talking to an air traffic controller (shown below).^[3]

Footage of Russell performing the barrel roll was captured on video by Facebook^[2] user John Waldron. The video was widely circulated online and by major news publications (shown below).

On 4chan,^[7][8] threads dedicated to Russell were submitted over the next several days, many of which contained photoshops, image macros and fan arts praising the incident and referring to Russell as "Sky King" (shown below).

Meanwhile, various tributes to Russell were uploaded to YouTube (shown below). In the coming days, articles about the incident were published in The New York Times,^[4] CBS News^[6] and The Washington Post.^[5]

Sky King 2 / Cory Wayne Patterson

On September 3rd, 2022, it was reported that a 10-year Tupelo Aviation employee, Cory Wayne Patterson, stole a twin-engine plane from the Tupelo Regional Airport.^[10] According to reports, Patterson called 911 from the plane and threatened to crash it into a Mississippi Walmart. Tulepo Police Chief John Quaka told CNN that Patterson had "some flight instruction" but was still in training. As part of his job, Patterson was responsible for fuelling the aircraft. On that day, Twitter^[11] user @CityKing_Gank_ posted a clip of Patterson flying the plane over his town, garnering over 17,000 likes and 4,000 retweets in six days (shown below). Many people online compared the incident to 2018's incident with Richard Russell, calling Patterson "Sky King 2.0" or "Sky King 2."

Currently we have a 29yr old who stole this plane & is threatening to crash it into something. Polices ,ambulances ,& fire trucks are everywhere. Everything is shutdown rn pic.twitter.com/AzebdIa3tP

— City King (@CityKing_Gank_) September 3, 2022

Patterson did not end up flying the plane into Walmart, instead landing it in a nearby field where he was arrested. Hours prior, he posted a message on Facebook that seemed to imply he was going to kill himself, writing, "Sorry everyone. Never actually wanted to hurt anyone. I love my parents and sister this isn't your fault. Goodbye" (shown below, left).^[12] His flight pattern was also shared online, with Twitter^[13] user @RMaons writing, "SKY KING 2.0 ON FLIGHT RADAR, AIRCRAFT IS CALLED KING AIR LOOOL" (shown below, right). The day of the incident, a thread on 4chan's /pol/^[14] board about the incident gained over 470 posts.

Search Interest

External References