Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share SKY KINGS - Stolen Planes, Broken Minds, & the Man Named Beebo
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
SKY KINGS - Stolen Planes, Broken Minds, & the Man Named Beebo
✈️🌲 EPISODE 12 — "SKY KINGS: STOLEN PLANES, BROKEN MINDS, AND THE MAN NAMED BEEBO" 🌲✈️
This episode is dedicated to my father, Fred Harvey — the best father a daughter could ever have. 💙
🛩️ On November 12, 1982, my dad went to work at the Cessna Aircraft Company facility in Wichita, Kansas — and one of his coworkers stole a brand new Citation I jet. The mechanic had no flight training. He flew a proper traffic pattern. He touched down 557 feet short of the runway and walked away. There is no Wikipedia page. No documentary. The story basically vanished — until I called my dad and asked him to tell me what really happened. 🔧
📅 Thirty-six years later, on August 10, 2018, it happened again.
A 29-year-old ground crew employee at Sea-Tac Airport named Richard Russell — friends called him kind, funny, thoughtful — used his authorized access to climb into a 70-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop. He had never flown a plane in his life. He took off without clearance. He spent 75 minutes in the air over Puget Sound, talking to one extraordinary air traffic controller who tried to talk him home. ✈️
The internet called him Beebo. 💕
Tonight: 👇 🛩️ The 1982 Wichita Cessna theft — a story that vanished from history 👨💼 Who Richard Russell actually was — kind, married, struggling 🎙️ The 75-minute ATC conversation that still haunts people 🔄 The impossible question both stories ask 📋 The NTSB investigation and what it found 🔓 The security failure that wasn't malicious — it was a blind spot
⚖️ This is not a story about a folk hero. It is also not a story about a villain. It is a story about what happens when a person crosses an invisible line that nobody saw coming until it was already gone. The system failed Richard Russell — and the same system failed a Cessna mechanic in Wichita 36 years earlier. The question of why is bigger than either case.
⚠️ A note on care: this episode discusses mental health crisis and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. ❤️
I'm Elizabeth Stanton. Thanks for killing time with me. ☕
📧 [email protected] 📍 Recorded in Derby, Kansas 🎙️ Listen everywhere podcasts are found
View all episodes
By Elizabeth Stanton✈️🌲 EPISODE 12 — "SKY KINGS: STOLEN PLANES, BROKEN MINDS, AND THE MAN NAMED BEEBO" 🌲✈️
This episode is dedicated to my father, Fred Harvey — the best father a daughter could ever have. 💙
🛩️ On November 12, 1982, my dad went to work at the Cessna Aircraft Company facility in Wichita, Kansas — and one of his coworkers stole a brand new Citation I jet. The mechanic had no flight training. He flew a proper traffic pattern. He touched down 557 feet short of the runway and walked away. There is no Wikipedia page. No documentary. The story basically vanished — until I called my dad and asked him to tell me what really happened. 🔧
📅 Thirty-six years later, on August 10, 2018, it happened again.
A 29-year-old ground crew employee at Sea-Tac Airport named Richard Russell — friends called him kind, funny, thoughtful — used his authorized access to climb into a 70-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop. He had never flown a plane in his life. He took off without clearance. He spent 75 minutes in the air over Puget Sound, talking to one extraordinary air traffic controller who tried to talk him home. ✈️
The internet called him Beebo. 💕
Tonight: 👇 🛩️ The 1982 Wichita Cessna theft — a story that vanished from history 👨💼 Who Richard Russell actually was — kind, married, struggling 🎙️ The 75-minute ATC conversation that still haunts people 🔄 The impossible question both stories ask 📋 The NTSB investigation and what it found 🔓 The security failure that wasn't malicious — it was a blind spot
⚖️ This is not a story about a folk hero. It is also not a story about a villain. It is a story about what happens when a person crosses an invisible line that nobody saw coming until it was already gone. The system failed Richard Russell — and the same system failed a Cessna mechanic in Wichita 36 years earlier. The question of why is bigger than either case.
⚠️ A note on care: this episode discusses mental health crisis and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You are not alone. ❤️
I'm Elizabeth Stanton. Thanks for killing time with me. ☕
📧 [email protected] 📍 Recorded in Derby, Kansas 🎙️ Listen everywhere podcasts are found