Horizon Air employee Richard Russell hijacks and performs an unauthorized takeoff on a Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 plane at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in Washington, flying it for more than an hour before crashing the plane and killing himself on Ketron Island in Puget Sound.

Horizon Air is an American regional airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, United States, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group, and it is paid by fellow group member Alaska Airlines to staff, operate, and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed, and sold by Alaska Airlines. Planes operated by Horizon are co-branded as Alaska Horizon to differentiate Horizon's planes from those operated by Alaska's other regional airline partner, SkyWest Airlines.