“He was a 29-year-old ground-crew member, fully credentialed to be inside secure areas and certified to tow aircraft around the tarmac. But federal investigators, Sea-Tac officials and his employer are scrambling to figure out how Richard Russell managed to steal an empty 76-passenger Horizon Air turboprop plane, take off from one of the busiest airports in the country and fly it around the south Puget Sound area before a fiery twilight crash Friday evening. The answers to these questions could eventually alter security procedures not only at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport but at other airports around the country. ‘Security is something that is taken very very seriously, and this clearly was a serious breach,’ said Michael Huerta, who until January of this year served as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). ‘It won’t surprise me if steps are taken to change protocol or put additional steps in place … The insider threat is something that is taken seriously.’”
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