Drama in US skies as Canadian flies in stolen plane
April 7th, 2009 - 12:09 pm ICT by IANS ( Leave a comment )
Toronto, April 7 (IANS) A young Canadian stole a Cessna training plane from an aviation school and flew it into the US, triggering panic in the town of Madison where government offices were evacuated.
Before the pilot was captured Monday after landing on a highway in Missouri state, his stolen Cessna had caused enough scare in Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, to force evacuation of government offices.
Two US F-16s scrambled to chase and force the pilot to land on Highway 60 in south-central Missouri state, reports said. The pilot had reportedly left a suicide note when he stole the plane.
He had flown the Cessna for about 1,200 km from Canada’s Thunder Bay International Airport where he stole it at about 3 p.m. The plane had about eight hours’ fuel when it was stolen.
The Cessna was stolen from the Confederation College Aviation Centre located at the Thunder Bay airport, college vice president Judi Maundrell was quoted as saying by Canada’s Canwest wire service.
“Apparently somebody jumped over the fence and just jumped into an aircraft.
“It was sitting as usual parked on the ramp. The keys are in all the aircrafts because students are using them,” she said.
After flying over Ontario province of Canada when the stolen plane entered the US, the two F-16s chased it.
The US pilots tried to communicate with the young Canadian but he would not respond.
However, the F-16s continued chasing it over Wisconsin, Illinois and then Missouri state till they forced it to land on Highway 60.
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Tags: aircrafts, aviation centre, aviation school, canwest, capital of wisconsin, central missouri state, cessna, confederation college, eight hours, government offices, judi, ontario province, province of canada, ramp, scare, south central missouri, suicide note, thunder bay airport, town of madison, wisconsin illinois