I'm a pilot. Father is a commercial pilot. Brother is a military rotary wing pilot. Just getting it started is more involved that you would think. Additionally, when parked it most certainly would be on a ground or FBO frequency yet he communicated on tower frequencies (or so I read). Which means he has an understanding of not only radio procedure but com panel operation and radio operation. Something not covered in most videos games. For now we can assume the radios had a flip-flop arrangement (sounded like a glass panel), which means he simply toggled over to the other frequencies, as last used during the aircraft's previous landing. But will still need to know the flip-flop button. Still...not something your typical non-pilot would know.

Something else which is interesting is that new pilots, simulator time or not, usually porpoise when first flying. I did not observe any of this. Porpoising occurs because the pilot constantly overcompensates to maintain level or a specific altitude. The result in that when above level they push down. When below level they pull up. The result is an cyclic up/down movement. Though perhaps did occur and just not in the video I've seen.

Also worth pointing out that most non-pilots don't know that throttle setting adjusts altitude. To climb you increase throttle. To sink you pull it. Yet he didn't seem to have trouble sanely flying. Which leads us into trim adjustment. An aircraft this large is going to require a fair amount of force to properly control unless the control surfaces are properly trimmed. Simply burning fuel during flight requires trim adjustment. The aircraft was most certainly trimmed for it's previous landing OR neutrally trimmed. With low fuel this means it would almost certainly have a nose-up or nose-down attitude (depending on fuel load Cg -as Cg would have been shifted toward an extreme) and would require considerable forward or backward pressure to prevent crazy climbs or dives. Especially with full throttle during takeoff. It's very unlikely a non-pilot would even know to trim the aircraft or what the controls would look like. Especially if his only experience were "video games."

Add to this and the crazy maneuvers it strikes me that this person was a pilot.

I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

I have seen speculation that he must have used a simulator to learn how to get the plane started and off the ground without stalling it. What I have found so far claims that the moves he was making are difficult to do.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/us/richard-russell-q400-flight-simulator.amp.html

If you have followed this story unfolding there's been a lot of talk and speculation about thie hijackers motives, and that crashing on that island may not have been accidental or coincidental. There's talk about child trafficking being done through the SeaTac and at the island. That through his job Russell found out about it. If the plane was purposely crashed there to direct our attention to dig into what goes on there, it's already looking like there could be more to this place and possibly the owner himself Lundgren. There's also the idea that If Trump is Q or with Q, then there's prior history and knowledge of the types of things Lundgren is involved with.

Here's more info on the coincidences. I didn't post this before because it's kinda long

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1028692675531169792.html

Almost all of those islands around there have individual septic tanks on each lot, and rainwater collected from the roofs, or rooves.

I find it odd that a sewage treatment plant would have been considered.