Pearl - Rest In Peace Sky King

00:00:00.000 oh my i get kind of emotional like watching this because it's just like i mean he just

00:00:04.160 did something that most pilots can't do like that's an insane trick right why why was he doing

00:00:10.000 the bags seattle grounds uh horizon guy um about to take off it's gonna be crazy

00:00:20.560 aircraft on charlie uh lining up runway one six center say your call sign the dash

00:00:25.520 The Dash 8 on Runway 1-6 Center, say your call sign.

00:00:27.520 The Dash 8 on Runway 1-6 Center, say your call sign.

00:00:30.520 Who's the Dash 8 holding on Runway 1-6 Center?

00:00:33.520 The guy on Alaska 322.

00:00:36.520 That aircraft was passed behind on the horizon when he was taking off roll.

00:00:40.520 I don't know what he was doing.

00:00:41.520 Who's the aircraft on Runway 1-6 Center?

00:00:44.520 Wheels are smoking left and right as they are right now as he's rolling down the runway.

00:00:49.520 Alright, I'm not even talking to him.

00:00:51.520 He came flying out of the cargo area in front of Delta.

00:00:56.680 Came out of cargo area once.

00:00:58.560 It's just a single pilot.

00:01:01.560 Yeah, Tower, we can verify that, too.

00:01:03.480 He came flying out of nowhere.

00:01:04.600 We thought this is somebody calling him in front of us, but he came flying in.

00:01:09.280 All right, thank you.

00:01:10.540 Tower, you need to call and scramble now.

00:01:13.420 Now we are.

00:01:16.380 Hey, Roger, you on?

00:01:18.060 See you on the ground, I mean.

00:01:19.380 Who is transmitting on the ramp?

00:01:21.280 Verizon guy, 449 Quebec X-Ray.

00:01:23.640 Yeah, 449.

00:01:24.860 What can I do for you?

00:01:26.260 Hey, I found myself in a bit of a predicament.

00:01:29.440 I'm in the air right now and just kind of soaring around.

00:01:33.880 449, are you not supposed to be on that aircraft?

00:01:36.460 Yeah, I did kind of a bad thing, kind of a selfish thing.

00:01:41.920 But it's all good.

00:01:43.160 I'm going to go check out Rainier.

00:01:45.580 Yeah, 449, so you hijacked the plane is what you're saying?

00:01:49.000 Yeah, I'm afraid I did.

00:01:56.100 What the hell?

00:01:58.080 Holy shit.

00:01:59.380 Oh, my God.

00:02:00.280 What the fuck in Alaska Airlines Q400?

00:02:02.700 What the fuck is he doing over here?

00:02:06.640 Any idea if a Dash 8 Q400 can do a barrel roll?

00:02:12.700 Just flying the plane around.

00:02:14.580 Do you seem comfortable with that?

00:02:16.080 Oh, hell yeah, it's a blast, man. I've played video games before, so I, uh, you know, I know what I'm doing a little bit.

00:02:25.160 Nah, everything's peachy. Peachy clean. Just did a little circle around right here. It's beautiful.

00:02:33.080 I think I got some gaps to go check out, uh, the Olympics. And, uh, yeah.

00:02:39.520 well if you can see the olympics the weather is good i can see the olympics from my window

00:02:45.280 and it looks pretty good over there all right i just i hit some uh felt like turbulent around

00:02:51.760 right here but there's no clouds hardly oh that's just the uh the wind blowing over all the bumpy

00:02:57.840 surfaces there oh copy that man have you been to the olympics you guys are gorgeous

00:03:09.520 Yeah, I have been out there. It's always a nice drive.

00:03:18.520 This is probably like jail time for life, huh? I would hope it is for a guy like me.

00:03:25.520 Damn it, Andrew. People's lives are at stake here.

00:03:30.520 Now, Rich, don't say stuff like that.

00:03:32.520 like that? No, I don't want to hear you. I just want you to whisper sweet nothing. This is my ear.

00:03:40.840 Hey Rich, this is Captain Bill here. We're still listening. My airplane's doing just fine. How's

00:03:46.440 yours? I got a lot of people that care about me and it's going to disappoint them to hear that I

00:03:56.720 did this. Um, I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Um, just a broken

00:04:05.700 guy. Got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now. Hey, pilot guy,

00:04:14.800 can this thing do a, uh, a back flip, you think? Well, I'd try to figure out how to

00:04:19.940 get the autopilot first. If you were to do it, how would you do it?

00:04:26.720 Hey, you think if I land it successfully, Alaska will give me a job as a pilot?

00:04:33.480 You know, I think they will give you a job of doing anything if you could pull this off.

00:04:37.380 Yeah, right.

00:04:39.820 I'm going to land it.

00:04:41.640 Like, in a safe kind of manner.

00:04:45.840 I think I'm going to try to do a barrel roll.

00:04:49.440 And if that goes good, I'm just going to nose down and call the night.

00:04:56.720 Let's pick a rock for one.

00:05:25.920 And the TOI-1 just completed a barrel roll.

00:05:30.440 Rock-1-2, he did a barrel roll.

00:05:33.100 A barrel, he cleared the surface of the water by approximately 10 feet.

00:05:37.880 But Rock-2, the Rock-1, the TOI-1 did a barrel roll and just barely missed hitting the water.

00:05:44.480 All right, Rich, this is Captain Bill.

00:05:46.520 Congratulations.

00:05:47.240 He did that.

00:05:48.320 Now let's try to plane that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground.

00:05:54.300 All right.

00:05:55.320 I was kind of hoping that was going to be it, you know?

00:06:02.320 For long, I feel like one of my interests is going out or something.

00:06:25.320 i've watched this like 20 times

00:06:34.100 like how does it got oh my god like oh i get kind of emotional like watching this because it's just

00:06:44.800 like I mean he just did something that most pilots can't do like that's an insane trick right why why

00:06:57.180 was he doing the bags okay I'm gonna bring up I don't know I want Doug MPA's take because I just

00:07:03.240 I found out about this yesterday and I'm like what the fuck we could do a call-in show like

00:07:10.060 why do you think he did it like why didn't let me read the actually let me read the comments

00:07:13.820 this is on x someone posted this on x on this day in 2018 28 year old richard russell forever

00:07:22.340 known as sky king borrowed an airplane from the seattle tacoma airport for a joyride for over an

00:07:27.780 hour before crashing onto a remote island he did a pretty epic barrel roll you wonder what it felt

00:07:32.440 like in the sunset to pull back on that stick among the clouds watching their horizon slip by

00:07:37.880 as the plane came over seeing the water rushing towards him doubtful of whether or not he was

00:07:41.640 going to make it. He only made that roll by a few degrees. It must have been the most exhilarating

00:07:46.980 moment of his whole life. That altitude would have felt like kissing the water. It must have felt like

00:07:51.920 destiny, the plane practically skimming the water, surrounded by the hills of the nearby islands,

00:07:56.860 slingshotting back out that right bank he made afterwards and all the speed he built from coming

00:08:02.040 down. He clearly didn't expect to live. I was kind of hoping it would be over, you know. It must have

00:08:07.100 felt like a rebirth, a total willingness to die, complete commitment to the cause I'm expecting to

00:08:11.840 avoid the water, and then incomprehensible exhilaration. Then only a few moments later,

00:08:16.820 he crashes into an empty island, going out in the high note of his existence. In the moment of the

00:08:21.900 image that it's used as a symbol, he is pulling back hard through a bank after that roll. I'm

00:08:28.480 certain he has the biggest smile on his face, and he felt totally free. Nobody can copycat what he

00:08:33.320 did, because he did it on total faith with no expectation of outcome. Rich was just a man

00:08:38.800 trying to live. Others would just be men trying to be rich. Richard Sky King Russell is the spirit

00:08:44.600 of every person alive today in the West who has that feeling, which is in more or less of us,

00:08:48.960 that feeling of hopelessness and lack of purpose, where one has no choice but to serve the machine

00:08:54.060 and be extracted for their worth before they are discarded, with the only thing to show for their

00:08:59.680 toils the benefit of others' bank accounts. No personal achievements, no fulfillments, no feeling

00:09:04.840 of being alive. But he made it. He got out. In the final act of a glorious rebellion, he slipped

00:09:09.740 that surely the bonds of this earth we live on and took himself for the greatest freedom man

00:09:14.700 has ever known. We're all Richard. We all suffer under the crushing weight of the 21st century life

00:09:18.920 that we created. In short, our bodies last longer, but we never live. He lived, if only for a brief,

00:09:24.660 beautiful moment. He lived truly as a free man, living man's oldest dream, completely free.

00:09:29.680 he soared through the skies and put on his hand and touched the face of God.

00:09:34.160 He is without question one of the greatest heroes to ever live,

00:09:37.100 and his final act of rebellion is, to me, unironically,

00:09:39.780 one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

00:09:44.380 Let's see what else.

00:09:45.700 Fly high, brother.

00:09:46.620 That airframe should be completely incapable of the aerobatics that he pulled.

00:09:51.100 Dude is a fucking legend.

00:09:52.380 Sad story, but I don't blame him for ditching him there.

00:09:55.160 That would have been an ungodly prison sentence.

00:09:57.180 I'm curious if you guys have thoughts on how long you think his prison sentence would have been.

00:10:01.320 I don't know why.

00:10:02.840 Maybe it's the woman in me, but I feel as though it wouldn't have been life.

00:10:10.640 I just don't know how anybody could hear that and not have sympathy for the guy.

Pearl - March 09, 2026

Rest In Peace Sky King

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