Sky King
On August 10, 2018, Richard Russell, a ground crewman with Horizon Air, stole a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 airplane and took off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He was 29 years old. Fearing a hijacking, the military immediately scrambled fighter jets to intercept the passenger plane.
Throughout the course of the roughly one hour and ten minute flight, Russell performed incredible feats of airmanship, including a successful barrel roll, that were caught on video from the ground. All the while, Russell talked on open radio channels to air traffic controllers about what he was seeing and feeling. This incredible true story is the inspiration for SkyKing, a video installation and project created in summer 2020.
I have flown from Sea-Tac many times, and know the landmarks Russell mentions well (Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Mountains). After listening many times to the recordings, I found his voice - alternately warm, scared, and funny - to somehow be familiar, as if I could descry my own reflection in his words. I understood that there was very much more that was left unsaid, and that within the disbelief, humor, self-effacement, detachment, excitement and fear there was entwined a performance, a catharsis, and a plea by someone desperately trying to make himself visible.
The reaction by the mainstream media, which portrayed Russell as a loner, a frustrated outcast, a criminal and a dangerous outlier, seemed to be too pat, too simple. Little attention was given to his societal and personal context beyond the trite observation of having led a "normal" life. Many reports were devoted to the practicalities of the event, such as the speed at which he flew, how many jets were chasing him, and the way in which he learned how to fly an airplane (supposedly, by "playing video games"), but almost none delved into the complex, sometimes contradictory reactions and statements by Russell during the nearly 70-minute flight. Who was he, really? Why was he so funny, so calm, and yet so relatable - and why does the story seem so familiar - not just to me, but to the hundreds and thousands of people who created a viral meme out of his experience? Most importantly, is there something important about Richard Russell's experience that we need to be paying attention to?
For this project, I wanted to use Russell's own words, and the fact that a recording of his voice exists is almost unheard of. Transcripts from airplane crashes and hijackings are very rarely released, and if so are generally political, technical, or violent in nature. This recording is none of those things. In just over 30 minutes of transcribed commentary, Russell is at times excited, but mostly calm; sometimes playful, and sometimes serious. There are glimpses of real sadness, yet also a dangerously close approach to the line of sanity that he somehow never seems to cross.
I transcribed the publicly available recordings and then ran each sentence through a free text-to-speech program. This allowed me to modulate the pitch, speed, and tone of his speech, creating a feeling of alienation and disorientation that is somehow also familiar. The voice of the air traffic controller is there, too - a pleasant yet disembodied voice which is comforting, professional, with just a thin underlying hint of violence. "Everything will be fine". Will it though? Check your fuel, turn back around, and make sure you land the airplane safely.
I created this project not to lionize Russell's criminal act, especially in such a polarizing climate of violence perpetrated by disaffected white males. I'm familiar with the online communities which see him as some sort of martyr, and yet to my knowledge, his background and personality was normal and unremarkable. There were no manifestos left, and no grievances or ugly affiliations. I created this project in order to reflect on what it must feel like to jump the guardrails of life; flying, but also remaining tethered. Making sense or not making sense, but fumbling towards at least one singular authentic moment. What do you do when your engines are going out?
June 2020 Saginaw, Michigan
Music:
"Welcome to Our Cargo Cult" https://soundcloud.com/rabbitsquirrel
"Watching The Sun Fade Away" https://soundcloud.com/inaiya
"Tape Deck 1 Oct 05 03-06-59" https://soundcloud.com/meem-koochi
"Cutup Test Cycle 7000" https://soundcloud.com/brian-heim-exp...