Pilot leaves suicide note railing against US federal tax agency before flying into building
A pilot set fire to his house and then committed suicide by flying his small plane into a tax office in Texas.
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 7:23PM GMT 18 Feb 2010
Link to this video
Joseph Stack left a six-page suicide note in which he railed against the Internal Revenue Service, the US federal tax agency.
He wrote: "I am finally ready to end this insanity. Well, Mr Big Brother IRS man let's try something different. Take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
"There was a storm raging inside me. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We are brainwashed to believe there is freedom in this land."
In his suicide "manifesto," which he posted on his own website, Stack also railed against Wall Street bankers, the Catholic Church, President George W Bush and the health care system.
The software engineer detailed how he had spent $5,000 (£3,000) and 1,000 hours of his time writing to senators and congressman about taxes and how he lost his retirement savings for the second time in the 1990s.
Stack crashed the four-seater aircraft into a seven-storey building which housed 199 IRS employees in the state capital Austin.
It created a huge fireball and at least two people in the building were injured, with one unaccounted for.
An FBI office was located next door to the tax office and NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, scrambled two F-16 jets from Houston amid fears of a terrorist attack.
The US Department of Homeland Security said later they believed there was "no nexus to terrorist activity." Stack is believed to have set fire to his house in Austin before boarding the aircraft at the city's Georgetown airport.
He owned his own plane, a Piper Cherokee, and did not file a flight plan before taking off.
Witnesses described how he flew low near power lines before heading over a wall and diving into the building.
The impact punched a wide hold in the black building, blew out dozens of windows and engulfed it in thick black smoke and flames.
Peggy Walker, an IRS revenue officer who was sitting at her desk, said: "It felt like a bomb blew off. The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran." Matt Farney, 39, who was in a nearby car park, said: "I figured he was going to buzz some apartments or he was showing off. It was surreal. It was insane, It didn't look like he was out of control or anything."
Sitting at her desk in a nearby building accountant Michelle Santibanez said the scene was reminiscent of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
She said: "It was the same kind of scenario with window panels falling out and desks falling out and paperwork flying." The scale of the fireball led to speculation that the plane may have had explosive material, other than fuel, on board.
Jim Tilmon, a retired commercial pilot, said: "That's a lot of damage for the amount of fuel that would be in that plane. It was as if it was a target. He wanted to fly into it. It certainly was a suicidal move."
A pilot set fire to his house and then committed suicide by flying his small plane into a tax office in Texas.
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 7:23PM GMT 18 Feb 2010
Link to this video
Joseph Stack left a six-page suicide note in which he railed against the Internal Revenue Service, the US federal tax agency.
He wrote: "I am finally ready to end this insanity. Well, Mr Big Brother IRS man let's try something different. Take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
"There was a storm raging inside me. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We are brainwashed to believe there is freedom in this land."
In his suicide "manifesto," which he posted on his own website, Stack also railed against Wall Street bankers, the Catholic Church, President George W Bush and the health care system.
The software engineer detailed how he had spent $5,000 (£3,000) and 1,000 hours of his time writing to senators and congressman about taxes and how he lost his retirement savings for the second time in the 1990s.
Stack crashed the four-seater aircraft into a seven-storey building which housed 199 IRS employees in the state capital Austin.
It created a huge fireball and at least two people in the building were injured, with one unaccounted for.
An FBI office was located next door to the tax office and NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, scrambled two F-16 jets from Houston amid fears of a terrorist attack.
The US Department of Homeland Security said later they believed there was "no nexus to terrorist activity." Stack is believed to have set fire to his house in Austin before boarding the aircraft at the city's Georgetown airport.
He owned his own plane, a Piper Cherokee, and did not file a flight plan before taking off.
Witnesses described how he flew low near power lines before heading over a wall and diving into the building.
The impact punched a wide hold in the black building, blew out dozens of windows and engulfed it in thick black smoke and flames.
Peggy Walker, an IRS revenue officer who was sitting at her desk, said: "It felt like a bomb blew off. The ceiling caved in and windows blew in. We got up and ran." Matt Farney, 39, who was in a nearby car park, said: "I figured he was going to buzz some apartments or he was showing off. It was surreal. It was insane, It didn't look like he was out of control or anything."
Sitting at her desk in a nearby building accountant Michelle Santibanez said the scene was reminiscent of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
She said: "It was the same kind of scenario with window panels falling out and desks falling out and paperwork flying." The scale of the fireball led to speculation that the plane may have had explosive material, other than fuel, on board.
Jim Tilmon, a retired commercial pilot, said: "That's a lot of damage for the amount of fuel that would be in that plane. It was as if it was a target. He wanted to fly into it. It certainly was a suicidal move."
