The man who stole an empty passenger plane from a Seattle airport and took it on a doomed joyride told air traffic control he knew he had let his loved ones down.

In what is assumed to be his final conversation before crashing the plane into an island, Richard Russell said: "I’ve got a lot of people that care about me. It’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this."

The family of the 29-year-old airline worker, whose body is yet to be found, said they are "stunned and heartbroken" at the "kind and gentle" man's dramatic crime and presumed death.


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