flying. remember not to tie this too closely back to 9/11 but that was the issue there. if you have an airport, it may pose a potential threat to the public. it may involve a municipal area and urban environment. what are the protocols in place that would be deployed that would give the signal to say this is now a threat to the population. this is something that needs to be taken out there. are a lot of questions that we don't have there. another issue we have to focus on, at what point did our leaders -- at what point did our leaders actually get involved to provide the type of leadership and guidance and that command authority to officials on ground to provide the word, if it did come down that part of this action, what we can guarantee is right now there is a crew from the national transportation safety board that they sit in their offices with their go bags ready to go at a moment's notice. any time there is an issue involving an aircraft, an airplane, a train, some type of

mass transit where they can jump on an airplane and get going and get that investigation under way, that is no doubt happening right now. they'll be on the scene no doubt in a matter of hours to start figuring into the details. what happened here and working back to determine what were the decisions made by the pilot or by others that were in the vicinity to cause what we're seeing right now on our screen. and that appears to be a crash of this aircraft. >> all right, josh. stay with me. stand by for just a second. we've just hit the top of the hour. it's just past 1:00 a.m. eastern time here in the u.s. it's 10:00 p.m. where josh is on the west coast of the u.s. and where this story is happening. and for anybody joining us right now, i just want to reset this story for a second. a lot of details are still missing, but this is what we know, that alaska airlines say they're investigating the unauthorized takeoff of one of their partner's planes. this happening at seattle's main airport on friday evening, and that's according to a tweet from the airport. this is the seattle tacoma international airport.

so this is not a small neighborhood airport where people go to fly planes. this is a major international hub. the plane crashed in pierce county. you are watching pictures of that scene right now. obviously, that area is on fire. this is where the plane crashed. it's not far from the airport. the plane was reportedly from horizon air, and it was a q400. so that's a popular plane, as we're saying a second ago. seats around 75 people. again, not a tiny plane. no two-seater, the three-seater that you learn to pilot and fly in on. i want to go back to josh. you're a former fbi agent. what would be the fbi be doing right now? >> right now they're in washington state. it's very soon. they don't have a lot of details going out right now. obviously any incident where you're involving a commercial aircraft, where you're involving some potential public, the local law enforcement officers will be

involved. when you think about it, when you talk about an aircraft, something that can move very rapidly to a number of different areas in a vicinity, different state you're, going to have very much an all hands on deck approach. this is actually an aircraft that took off there out of seatac, seattle-tacoma international airport and appeared if you look at some of the flight data tracking that we've been looking at, it took a circuitous route and made a number of strange maneuvers and ended up crashing. but it was moving south, so moving towards the state of oregon, that you would have officials that were there with the oregon national guard, the air force that would be on the alert. you talk about the larger national command authority, you would have norad folks in colorado that would be monitoring the movement of every aircraft that takes place in continental united states and even beyond that and partners. so it's something that would have eyes on. but then the question would be were they able to be in contact with the aircraft. so this is someone that actually we know based on some of these early reports had unauthorized

access, was able to take off with the aircraft. >> yeah, about that, josh, let me interrupt you for a second and bring you and our viewers some information that we're getting. this is coming to us from the pierce county sheriff's office. they say a mechanic from an unknown airline stole a plane from the seattle-tacoma airport friday evening. this is new information. it was a mechanic, somebody that was working at the airport. we don't know what airline he or she was from. according to the sheriff's twitter account, the stolen plane crashed into ketron island. it's believed the mechanic's lack of flying skills caused the crash. so hold on. if this is to be believed, and this comes from the pierce county sheriff's office, this is somebody who doesn't know how to fly and who steals a plane? >> well, you know, as we mentioned earlier, i can tell from my own experience having taken minimal flying lessons in the past, i mean, the focus was

always on landing. it's easier to take off an aircraft, to take off than it is to actually bring one to a halt, to turn an airborne vehicle to a ground one. that's the most dangerous part. we can't get into his or her head. but someone who knew their way around an airport, who was able to at least understand generally the physics that were involved, manipulating the controls to get the aircraft down the runway and up, that's something that would be a lot easier than to bring it back to the ground. what i was saying earlier, we don't know if the air traffic control was actually in communication with the pilot or the mechanic now as i guess we call him, was in communication with this person to try to vector him back to an airfield whether it was seatac or another smaller airfield in the area that would have been outside of the larger urban area. now we don't know. but, again, a lot of that will be part of this investigation. we'll have recordings of all of

that, communications with someone who actually made her or own motivation known as far as what they were doing, if they were actually agreeing to actually bring it back to an airfield, that atc was vectoring them too that will all be on those recordings as well. but again, just because you decide i made a mistake now and i'm going to try to land this aircraft doesn't mean you have the knowledge to do. so we don't know what took place here that will be part of the investigation that will be something we'll continue to watch. >> but that raises the yes, and stand by, josh. but that does raise the question if you're going to somehow take off in a plane, and you do not have the flying skills so land it, one would assume, i'm making an inference here, this is somebody who never expected the make it out alive. for whatever reason, whether that person wanted to take their own life, maybe someone else's life, we don't know. i want to bring another piece of information to our viewers, again from the sheriff's office here, the pierce county sheriff. he says two military f-15s

chased the plane. so that addresses what josh campbell was telling us a second ago. two f-15s chased the plane but were not involved in the crash. so, again, if this is to be believed, the f-15s did not shoot that down that play. let's bring in zack helm. he sat the seatac airport right new and joins me on the phone. zack, i understand you saw this plane while it was airborne? >> i did not see the plane airborne, but i was this the terminal where it supposedly came out of. >> okay. tell me a little bit what you know, what you saw. anything you can tell us. >> well, i was in the plane, about to take off in the time that it was hijacked. -- >> in that very plane? >> i was not in the plane that was hijacked. i was in another plane in the alaska airline industry. and i did not see it take off. but i was told to get out of my plane because if there has been a hijacking.

>> in other words, how long before departure was this? how long before your flight was supposed to take off? >> we were all boarded and we were about to go on to the runway. we had gotten all the luggage, everyone had been boarded we had been seated, the instructional video had been done, and we were ready to go. and then the news came to us. i in other words, minutes before you guys were going to be airborne. >> correct. >> minutes before they got all the passengers off your airplane. >> correct. >> did they tell you why? >> yes. they were saying an employee had stolen the plane, had attempted or had tried but crashed the plane. >> this was coming from the airline officials? >> yes. >> so detail that message for us, because honestly, it surprises me. when something goes wrong, when you're airborne or anywhere in an airplane or a plane, usually the officials manning the plane, whether it's the stewards, the

captain, usually they're pretty coy about what they say to the passengers. >> right. i think he said that because he was trying to get us safely off the plane so nothing happened while we were land. >> all right. so he told you. i just want to double-check with this. he told you an employee had hijacked a plane and was in the air, and that's why everybody had to get out? >> yes. >> what happened after that? >> we all got off the plane into the terminal, like every other airline, or alaska airlines flight and we waited in the terminal. >> so at this point i'm assuming that the terminal is starting to fill up as this is happening to all the planes around you that were scheduled to take off roughly in that time slot. >> right. >> all right. okay, thanks. stay with me for a second. we're pulling in all the threads of information here. we're working on this as i speak to you and josh campbell as well. what we're getting now from the pierce county sheriff, and that's where all the previous

information came to us from is this is not a terrorist incident. confirmed info, this is a single suicide male. we know who he is. no others involved. okay. zack, let me just go to you for a second. you were minutes away from finding yourself airborne. with apparently a suicidal plane. just how do you feel? >> kind of scary to think about. >> yeah. were you traveling alone? >> i was traveling with my mom, but she's not sitting next to me. >> okay. what is she saying? >> she was pretty mellow. she was kind of -- she was feeling good that we were safe in the terminal. >> all right. okay. zack helm, look, thank you so much for giving us your story and twhoopd you at seattle-tacoma airport. that's great. zach, we'll speak to you a little later. thanks a again. now i want to read this tweet by

alaska airlines. we've confirmed a horizon air q400 that had an unauthorized takeoff from seatac around 8:00 p.m. has gone down near tetron island in pierce county, washington. we're working to confirm who was on board. we believe there were no guests or crew on board other than the person operating the plane. first of all, if that is true, let me just say that is a relief. no passengers. we are obviously keeping our fingers crossed that that indeed turns out to be true. turns out to be accurate. no passengers, no other staff on board. let me go back to josh. josh, there are so many things about this story that are striking. is it -- how easy it is to -- how easy is it to take off in a q400. i'm just looking at a picture of the plane. we're not talking about a tiny plane. >> a little less skill than a jet aircraft. you think of the larger jumbo

jets flying in and out of seatac and some of the major international airports. one thing that is interesting to keep in mind, just for the public that had flown, that are used to these airports and kind of the ins and outs of commercial flying, if you think about it, if a mechanic were to try to hijack an airport that was sitting at a commercial gate, there is no way that a mechanic could make his or her way into the cockpit and then somehow, you know, back the plane up from a gate. it doesn't happen that way. these aircraft are pushed out by a team of ground personnel that gives me a little more comfort obviously. this is a very serious security breach, but this tells me that this is likely an aircraft that was sitting at a hangar somewhere, that may have been undergoing routine maintenance, may have been part where they sit and wait to come into the get for an aircraft to take off the next day. but this isn't like it was sitting at a gate, waiting to take off full of passengers.

there is no way one person can do that, to make that take place, which makes it probably more an aircraft that is sitting in a hangar that is under maintenance that this person had access to probably in the course of his or her duties was able to get on board the aircraft, was able to manipulate the controls, was able to get it out to the runway and up to speed. obviously a tragic situation. we're sitting here look agent that plane crash. well don't know what the circumstances are there on the ground in pierce county, if there are other people that may have been impacted. at least the best case, if there is one that you compare to an aircraft that is full of passengers. that's good news. the second being this is something that aircraft employee, not only there in seattle, but ntsb, airline employees around the country, indeed around the world are going to be looking at. because the one thing they're always trying to determine is what is the threat, what is the risk that we have here. and again, any operation is only as safe as the men and women that are actually involved in it. and airline employees and pilots will actually undergo

psychological screening. it's a little less so obviously for mechanics because they don't have the same type of access, the same type of control when you're involving other people, other passengers, other souls aboard aircraft. but obviously very serious. if somebody who has access to an aircraft is able to get it off the ground and it becomes airborne if they have other sinister means that they're attempting to employee, that's obviously a very dangerous threat to the public safety. again, there are a lot of questions that we have right now. a lot of answers that we don't have. i think the only silver lining, and obviously this is a tragedy, but you didn't have somebody that appeared to be trying to take off and vector that aircraft the a large highly populated area that would then cause massive life of life. we don't know. we can't get into this person's mind. >> no, no. and i'm looking at pictures of ketron island. it's very low density population. fingers crossed. we don't know what the situation is on the ground. obviously there is was plane

crash and that's dangerous. just from the pictures it looks like to is a distinct possibility that this could have landed in the forest and not killed anymore. josh campbell, thank you so much. i'm going to bring the latest information to our viewers. the pierce county sheriff is tweeting, and sheriff, we hear you loud and clear. he is saying i'm working with the fbi and military. all the information sent out here is confirmed. sheriff paul pastor will be the contact. here what's we know at what is still a fairly early hour in this developing story. we know that a plane was stolen. it was stolen by a mechanic working at seatac. that's the seattle-tacoma international airport in washington state. northwestern united states for our international viewers. that plane took off, and two f-15 fighter jets were scrambled, but they did not shoot it down, again, according to the county sheriff. they were not involved in the crash. the reason the plane crashed, according to the sheriff, is because of the lack of flying

skills of the mechanic who had taken it and flown the plane in the first place. al also vital information, there were no passengers and staff, no one else aboard this plane. it was a q400. david soucie, from denver, colorado. tell us a little more about the plane, the q400. >> it's a twin turboprop. it's one that has had some kind of issues with some icing and things like that in the past. but it's a great airport. it's a good backbone airport for a lot of commuter airlines right now. >> have you ever seen anything like this? have you ever been called up to report on a story that even remotely resembles this one? >> yeah, i've investigated an accident like this one time. >> a suicide flight? >> well, it wasn't really a suicide flight. as josh was saying, it may have just been from the lack of skill of the mechanic. but mechanics often routinely

can take airplanes up. >> if you have lack of skill and you don't know how to fly a plane and you steal a plane, that's what many see as a suicide flight because you're not going to land it. >> that's a good possibility, but we don't know what he was thinking and doing. i would be more concerned about his intent. and again, it would have been suicide. but i think the public safety issue is the biggest concern of anyone right now. what was his intent when he took that airport. it wasn't just for a joy flight, that's for sure. if there is suicide, there is other ways to go. >> what do you mean by what was his intent? >> it was his intent to get the airport up and put into it a populated area. the public safety is my biggest concern because he has a weapon on his hands at that point. and it could very well be dangerous for many people on the ground. >> what is your thinking based on what we know? and i know it's sketchy. >> well, it's too early to say anything really as we don't know

what he was doing. but my early take on this is that the mechanic has -- it is a vulnerability for the airlines and for our whole industry right now is that the ability for a mechanic to take an aircraft out alone. now, there is protocol where he should not have been in that airplane alone at all. if he was taxiing out and asked for clearance to get to the taxi way, that airplane would have been stopped long before it got a runway to take off and should have been at seatac, unless he was telling the tower or something different. telling them a story that i've got to go out and run this aircraft. i'm going to test the engines, et cetera, et cetera. mechanics have pretty free rein to do that. and so this one went a little bit further. >> so when you say -- when you say this was a vulnerability for the industry, do you mean that before today, you had it in mind that mechanics were perhaps in a kind of -- were in a position to super lotto a loophole or

weakness in the security system? >> yes, i do. i think that's something that -- it is something i've thought of before. it's something that security experts have talked about before, and that's why there is protocol that the no mechanic should be taxiing a mechanic on a runway or anywhere on the tarmac without two niam the aircraft. so how he got in that aircraft himself, by himself and got clearance to go out, that's the vulnerability, the fact that they didn't follow protocol there needs to be tightened rein on. this. >> david, stay with me. i want to bring you updates. they're coming to us from the pierce county sheriff. first of all, the last one that he put up was just moments ago. all right. so this one first. follow this thread for official info. this is not a terrorist incident. confirmed info. this is a single suicide male. we know who he is. no others involved. that's important. not a terrorist incident. david, i know you're saying he has that improvised pilot, that

mechanic cum pilot had a weapon in his hands. but the sheriff is telling us that they're working background on him. he is a 29-year-old suicidal male, and this was not a terrorist incident. i also want to bring you this last tweet by the sheriff. told that the f-15s made it within a few minutes of theft of the plane. the pilots kept plane out of harm's way, and people on the ground are safe. yay, air force. they may not admit for a few days, but it's true. that has to put a smile on anybody's face that has been following this story. >> yes, absolutely. ever since 9/11, the response time of these military jets is so quick, especially around that seattle area and around any large metropolitan area. if there is an. >> they is off radar, if there is an aircraft that is not supposed to be there, does not have authorization, it's amazing how quickly they can respond to that. >> that's what protocol for

that? what are they supposed to do? >> the protocol is to fly and monitor. and you fly and monitor to see what the direction of the aircraft. you identity what the hazard areas are, when they go over highly populated areas and that sort of thing. so the aircraft, they try to guide the eight, to get close to it on one side and push the aircraft one way or the other, making the pilot nervous to say i'm going to get hit if i keep going that way. so they guide them away from the city, guide them away. and if the aircraft is not in eminent danger to a high population, they'll just let that aircraft fly and run out of gas if it has to. but if it's going to harm anything anyone at that point, they are authorized to shoot that aircraft down. >> david, stay with me. we're going to take a quick break, and i'll speak to you right on the back of this. in the u.s. "park" it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding.

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is cnn breaking news. >> fast-moving story here on cnn. so let's recap what we know about the crash in seattle. alaska airlines says they are investigating the unauthorized takeoff of one of its partner's planes at seattle's main airport friday evening. this according to a tweet from the airline. it crashed in pierce county, not far from the airport. you are looking at live pictures from the scene. of course, it's nighttime in washington, just past 10:00 p.m. almost 10:30 on the west coast. the plane was reportedly from horizon air.

it was a q-uq400. david, let me remind the people what we know. we're being told it was mecke frick the airport who stole the plane. he was 29 years old. he was from pierce county. the sheriff's department is currently working background on him. more importantly, they were saying this is not a terrorist incident. this was a suicide flight mission. also of key importance here, there was no one else on the plane with him. so no one else was killed in the crash. and no one else on the ground. and two f-15s, two f-15 fighter jets were scrambled. and they steered the plane away from a danger zone. that's what we're being told by the pierce county sheriff's department. tells us a little bit about how that works. you were telling us before the break. >> yes, they box the aircraft in. and i'm not sure how fast or how

quickly this aircraft was traveling through the air. but those particular aircraft are able to go to different speeds, and they'll actually bank to the aircraft. no matter where the pilot looks, he is not going to steer into the jets. they're very, very ominous. thinking that he could fly one way or the other. now the only thing that concerns me than, if i was in those airplanes is this f this is a mechanic who is not an experienced pilot. >> yeah, how does he react to that. >> probably move a little farther away, but trying to keep that aircraft into the right area. >> okay. the pictures we're seeing, it's hard to judge the side of the perimeter where we're seeing flames and plane debris. fortunately, ketron island where it landed is a very low density, low population area. are you seeing the pick checks, david, that i'm seeing? >> no, i can't see them right now. i did earlier.

>> it's nighttime. we're seeing flames in the forest. i was just going to ask you what the danger was. and we don't know the specifics of the speed at which the plane was flying, et cetera. but in a crash like that of how far, how wide a perimeter is endangered when a plane crashes like that. >> well, it depends on the angle of attack. if it's going in more perpendicular, it can vary from even the 737 crash in colorado springs here was only a scatter pattern of about 50 feet wide, 50 by 60. so it could be that small, or it can be turned out across hundreds and hundreds of yards because if it skids across, it will take itself apart. if the engines are under full power, it can pull the wings further apart. so you can get quite a scatter pattern. even though that's not a densely populated area, there are homes out there and that are homes in that area. so the chance that pieces of

that aircraft could have come down is still a possibility. >> cnn law enforcement analyst josh campbell is standing by. he is with us too. josh from what we know, this is not a terrorist incident, this was a suicide mission, this is a vulnerability in the system, the mechanics getting access to plane. can you comment to that? >> it is. and this is obviously any type of incident happens -- >> but you say it -- hold on. josh, just a second. we knew it was vulnerability? >> well, what i'm saying is obviously in any organization or structure where you have -- it's only as safe as the weakest link. in these incidents where you talk about aircraft that are involving passengers, there is a lot of scrutiny that goes into pilots and psychological analysis and the like, obviously less so when we talk about mechanics because they're not actually ferrying human beings and passengers along with them. but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous. obviously you a pilot or a mechanic rather that has access

to an aircraft, that can quickly turn into a weapon, as we see. say this person had that as his or her motivation that they want the take this aircraft off and use it as some type of offensive weapon, we'd obviously be talking about something very different right now. and that is obviously a vulnerability. but any type of incident likes this, the investigators will be looking back to determine what went wrong and what can we change as far as the structures that are in place to ensure that this does not happen again. this will be part of the ntsb investigation that will take place to actually look at this structure, to look at the processes, as david was mentioning earlier. even a protocol as simple of having two people aboard an aircraft before it takes off. if this is someone who was able to gain access because perhaps it was sitting in a hangar or elsewhere where it was outside the view of other people and security personnel, if one person was able to get on the aircraft and manipulate because he had access to it that's obviously an issue and that's going to be scrutiny that we're going to see. two issue, the access and what brought this aircraft to a halt

that will all be part oafter that investigation. >> all right. josh campbell, our law enforcement analyst, david uss soucie, i'm going speak to both of you on the back of this break. fbly this raises questions. what were the safety screenings for the mecke snhanimechanic? did he go through all the proper vetting for anybody who w.h.o. c can have access. it's going to take days to get these answers. we go to a short break. we keep asking the questions after this. know what? no, what? i just switched to geico and got more. more? got a company i can trust. that's a heck of a lot more. over 75 years of great savings and service. you can't argue with more. why would ya? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more.

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you're just joining us. a mechanic stole the plane from seattle -- >> what is this guy doing? >> you heard the voice there. what is this guy doing? this is a suicide mission. this is what the pierce county sheriff is telling us. this was a suicide mission from the 29-year-old mechanic who stole the plane and did not have the ability to land it, again, according to the sheriff. two f-15 fighter jets within minutes were on either side of that plane, and then forced it to land, or at least steered it away from the information we have now from population centers. we are joined by josh campbell, cnn law enforcement analyst and mary schiavo, cnn aviation analyst. mary, we're seeing the f-15s. this is very impressive stuff. mary, are you seeing what i'm seeing? >> i am. i'm seeing it on the air. >> okay. this is your field. tell me what you think. >> you know, to be able to do a maneuver like that, it's obviously not coordinated loop

and turn. i mean, one summer i actually worked the air shows a long, long time ago. they're hard to do. i mean, you can't hop in a plane, a beginning pilot or somebody whose just gotten -- >> wait, you're telling me the loop that we're seeing now, that's hard to do? to me that looks like somebody who doesn't know how to fly a plane, who is just hanging on by the skin of his teeth. you're telling me that's a maneuver he may have done on purpose? >> well, it could be. he is able to do this, he comes out of it in the video i'm seeing, he is able to pull it out. >> yeah, this is daredevil stuff. >> and fly again. >> that's -- yeah, if you're able to do that and keep the plane flying, kit be very difficult. it could also be somebody who just got lucky, doesn't know how to fly. >> is this plane easy to fly? >> pardon? >> is this plane easy to fly? it's a q400. >> i wouldn't say easy to fly. it's a twin-engine plane. if you've just got a few hours

as a private pilot, you start a single england. that's your first rating. >> and here is the f-15s. >> on a plane without retractible gear, and somebody -- you know, obviously a mecke sikh already qualified. to be able to do this and move the plane at the airport, that i have to have what's call and run and taxi qualified. meaning this person was already qualified to do that at the airport. i mean, if you have access to the planes -- >> mary, respectfully, let me interrupt you. what is that run and taxi qualification? what can -- somebody who has that conversation, what can they do and what can they not do presumably? >> oh, okay. well if a mechanic has run and taxi qualification, literally, that person is allowed to move the aircraft around the airport. they're allowed to start the plane. they're allowed to run the plane. they can move the plane from point a to point b. >> from the cockpit, correct? sitting in the pilot's seat?

>> sure. and there have been accidents before where mechanics with this what you call run and a taxi qualify have had accidents. they've run off the runways. they haven't flown the plane like, this but they've run off the runways, hit jet bridges. they've had incidents where they hit other plane at the airport. so it's not unusual. in fact, it's day to day occurrence where a mechanic does have this ability. and they're allow to be cleared by air traffic control. they have to ask for the clearances before they move the plane just like the pilot would. and so initially, it wouldn't be considered odd for a mechanic to ask, you know, permission to move the plane, to taxi the plane because they do that if they're qualified to do that and they have this permission. they do it all the time. it's not odd. >> okay. so what's the gap in terms of

know how, in terms of skill in terms of being able to taxi the plane and then being able to at a stretch in a pinch just take off. i'm not -- and i'm in no way suggesting that a mechanic's skill level is not far from that of a pilot. >> right. >> but i ask this question because i think anybody whose taken flying lessons, i took one, will relate to. this if you get in a tiny two-seert, within an hour of training, you are in a position to basically turn the engine on and pull on the lever and with enough speed, you get up in the air and you're airborne. so that's my question. how much of a gap is there between the mechanic knowing the -- sorry, the taxi qualification and being able to take off? >> well, if you're a mechanic on this plane, you already know that. if you've had a few lessons in a small single engine airport and you know the takeoff speed as you're rolling down the runway,

you know the very important speed, the v 1 and v 2. v-1 is the speed where you can take off. and v-2 is the speed where you can't abort your takeoff anymore. i mean, if you're a mechanic, you already know those speeds because they're in the manual. if have you v a flight simulator, or you had some lessons, you know what speed rolling down the runway, you can pull become on the yoke, and you're airborne. however, looking at the video, and again, i'm watching on the screen like everybody else, but look at the video, he's got the gear retracted or she, whoever the mechanic is, has the gear retracted. so they obviously are very familiar and they know how to do that on the plane. so this is the mechanic, once you know all the systems on the plane and you know the important airspeed, you could do it, sure. >> so this is clearly somebody whose skills go quite a bit beyond. >> well, i think so. yeah, like i said, if this was

somebody's first flight or they just pulling back on the yoke ,- and lifting off for the first time is a wonderful thrill, remember way back to my first flight, but it's also very scary. but i don't believe. this i think this person has the skills, maybe has some training, maybe has flight simulators at home. but, you know, to do a loop in an aircraft that is not an aerobatic aircraft, and to pull out of it, come out of it okay and keep flying, you know, there are people who tried it with lots of skills and have crashed. i don't know. i think the person had skill. >> mary, stand by. bear with me. quick break. and when we come back, i want to ask you about the security aspect of this. we know what it's like to learn from the best. we know there's nothing quite like watching a son rise. we know that what's outside can change what's inside. we know the great outdoors. we love the great outdoors. bass pro shops and cabela's are proud to salute you,

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more on this rapidly developing story of that plane that was stolen at

seattle-tacoma international airport and then crashed a few moments later not far from seattle. let's bring in john walter. he captured some of the remarkable video of the stole listen plane in the air. that's what we're showing you moments ago. john, tell me, tell me everything about the circumstances in which you filmed this. when did you look up? what made you look up. tell me everything. >> well, i went down to chambers bay for my nightly walk like i always do, and i noticed, excuse me, a couple military fighter jets kind of flying around the area. i looked up and saw a twin turboprop type transport aircraft flying around. and excuse me, sorry, and the two fighters were right behind him. i thought this looks kind of cool, like a little air show or something going on. but something didn't seem right. and so i took out my phone and started to videotape the

aircraft. and right about the time i started taping, just shortly after, i noticed this transport aircraft all of the sudden the pilot pulls the stick back, and he went into a complete loop. i thought my god, he is going to stall this thing and crash. he was able to get it controlled, level back off, and he was probably i'm going to guess maybe a little less than 100 feet or so above the water. >> yeah. >> and he was coming straight toward me. so i thought my god, i got to get ready to run if he doesn't know what he's doing. he is going to kill somebody. and at the last second, he pulled back up, almost straight up, almost stalled the aircraft. he managed to get control again, leveled off, and then he flew off towards steilacoom. and at that point, i stopped the video and turned back around to watch the sunset, which is kind of what i went down there to do in the first place.

flew back. and as i look, i saw -- a flash and a very loud explosion. i think he just crashed that plane. i'm not sure. you know, a lot of times they'll have explosive guys on the ground to simulate an explosion. but i thought not on ketron island. >> okay, john, do we still have you on the line? all right. that was john waldron. we'll get him back up on the line. but an amazing story he was telling us. john waldron is the man who shot what you're seeing on your screen right now, really stunning footage. so the q400 that had been stolen moments before from seattle-tacoma international airport being followed, chased by two f-15 fighter jets. you saw the daredevil maneuver

just above the water, and moments later it crashed on ketron island. we'll get john back up to talk than. mary schiavo is still with us. mary, one thing i should have asked you earlier. tell us about seatac, seattle-tacoma international. how big an airport are we talking about? >> we are talking about a major international airport with planes operating there from 777, to dreamliner, 787s, airbus aircraft. i mean, this is a major airport. you have a lot of flights landing there from china. it's -- obviously an airport with a lot of security because you have a lot of international flights. but, you have two very different worlds sea-tac or any major airport. you have the world, the sterile, sterile by meaning security, passengers deal with and that the tsa patrols and all that you see.

but people and the rest of the airport, in the bowels of the airport they come to work through their own portals. it is a very different world for a mechanic at the airport. they come to work like anyone else reporting for a job. so you don't ever see that part of the airport because it is on, what we call the air side or the sterile side of the airport. so they live an entirely different world. people in the airport probably never met this mechanic. didn't come to work through the airport. came to work through the employees portals. two worlds. >> mary, i remember three years ago, huge airline disaster cost many, many lives, 150 people killed. in that german wings crash in -- >> right. >> in southern france in the pyrenees. it emerged from the story that the pilot was in a depressive state of mind. and he had mental health issues. and wanted to kill himself and killed everybody else on the plane. so, of course that raised many,

many questions afterwards. about whether he should have been cleared to even be flying that plane, whether the airline and whether the civil aviation authorities missed the signals. so the question i am going to ask you pretty much the same thing about a mechanic. we are being told this is a suicidal mechanic. what kind of vetting do you know occurs for mechanics? >> well, the most -- the most rigorous vetting is on their in frame power plant skills. the most vetting that they get is whether they're able to check the aircraft. remember, to move a plane on the ground you are not considered, you know, being the pic, the pilot in command. all you have to do from your airline or from your aviation operation, you know, even express plane. all you have new be qualified to do is what i, mentioned before, is you run, and you are allowed to drive the plane as if you are driving a truck on the ground.

why? because you are not, you are not authorized to fly it. so you don't even have to be a pilot. so you don't have any of those clearances that pilots go through for airlines. for example, the rules are very strict. your record follows you through every air pliline that you work. body of work that goes with you. through federal regulation. you can't hide one part of your record. >> when you are a pilot you said? >> yeah, when you are a pilot. and then you have initial hire screening. rudimentary mental health screens. you have to have a pilot medical on which you have to disclose any mental problems if you are taking any kind of anti-depressa anti-depressants. those are, those must be reported to the federal aviation administration. but you don't go through any of that as the pilot who is run and taxi qualified. you are just basically able to maneuver the plane, you are kind of like, you know like the person who drives the tug at the

airport, moves the plane from here to there. you don't need a tug. you are qualified to turn it on. power it up. you are just not qualified off to take it off. because -- you're not a pilot. you don't have the pilots tickets. this person obviously had some training. and, knew the plane very well. because, he is a mechanic. so knew how to put the gear up. knew the important speed at which you've could take off. avoid stalling. got the engine, you know, two engines. now this q-400 -- it is a remake of an older plane. they upgreat!$!!aded t,madeeng faster. ten years ago this was a new version of an older turbo prop, belter better engines. >> respectfully, i was listening intently to vetting there is for pilot, versus vetting for mechanic. while it makes sense on its face, listening to you, it seems to me loike today has uncovered

or proved a vulnerability in the system like david was telling us. >> sure, absolutely. been an issue for some time. because, 3/4 of the people who work at the airport haven't had vetting or security that even a passenger has passed. it is a huge loophole. and discussed at length after 9/11. >> because no one envisioned something like this would hap m? >> no, i think they have. envisioned. there have been planes stolen from airports before. albeit smaller planes. and there have been people who have gotten on board planes and tried to commandeer planes at airports before. that's happened before as well. but there was push back. the industry push back on requiring full security and background checks in the industry. the aviation industry has pushed back mightily on, medical health screening. even for pilots. other than the initial hiring.

stow there has been push back from the industry. expense would be too great. >> mary, thank you. going to have to stop you there for a few minutes. thank you for your patience with me. we will fatake a quick break. recap everything at the top of the hour. that's in four minutes. stay with us.

following breaking news. an air craft has crashed near seattle washington after mechanic stole it from seattle's main airport. the aircraft took off without authorization, and without passengers friday night. the person at the controls of the plane was an airline mechanic and has been identified