Killer Thriller Docu: He Stole a Plane with Zero Experience...Then Took Off
misSPELLING
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In August 2018, Richard “Beebo” Russell, a ground service agent with no flying experience, stole a commercial plane from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and took it on a wild solo flight. Director of the new Hulu Documentary #SkyKing, Patricia E. Gillespie, shares what actually happened, using real air traffic control recordings and interviews to piece it all together. In Sky King, she sits down with Beebo’s friends and family to paint a more personal picture of the man behind the headlines.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:17.1 | Hi, guys. |
| 0:18.0 | Welcome back to Killer Thriller Dacu Edition. |
| 0:40.0 | I'm your host, Jen Fessler. So today, we are talking about the new Hulu documentary Sky King. You guys, this was unlike a lot of the true crime documentaries that I've watched and that we've talked about here on the pod. August 10th, day after my birthday, 2018, and I remember this. |
| 0:45.4 | A Horizon Airplane was stolen from Seattle, Tacoma, International Airport by 28-year-old Richard Russell. |
| 0:46.6 | Everybody called him Bebo. |
| 0:48.2 | And a Horizon Air Ground Service agent. |
| 0:50.7 | So he had no piloting experience. |
| 0:53.9 | He was the guy that you see in the, you know, |
| 0:56.4 | orange vest, taking the luggage off the plane, putting the luggage back on the plane. So he was an |
| 1:02.6 | incredible guy. And so he performed this unauthorized takeoff. And CETAC air traffic control, |
| 1:08.6 | made radio contact with him. He was the only guy on the plane. |
| 1:11.9 | He stole the plane and he started to talk to air traffic control. |
| 1:15.6 | He described himself as a broken guy. |
| 1:18.2 | He said, I got a few screws loose, I guess, which was heartbreaking. |
| 1:21.3 | Because when you watch this, you see that this guy was the kindest, warmest, most hardworking, devoted guy. |
| 1:31.4 | So I don't know, I fell in love with him watching it, and he had everything going for him. |
| 1:36.6 | But he ended up stealing this plane. |
| 1:38.7 | He does what's called a barrel roll in it, which is basically an impossible thing to do. |
| 1:43.3 | And these were his last moments of life. |
| 1:44.9 | And he, you know, purposefully crashes the aircraft into the Catron Island. And, you know, |
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