Cessna 172 plane stolen from Canada
April 7th, 2009 - 10:42 am ICT by Amrit Rashmisrisethi
A man stole a Cessna 172 plane in Northern Ontario airport, Canada and flew over three states before he landed into the United States. The man has been taken to the custody of the Missouri Highway Patrol in a crazy story that began in Canada and ended in Southeast Missouri’s Carter County.
Two United States Air Force F-16 fighter jets flanked the plane from Wisconsin to its landing point in Elsinore near Poplar Bluff. The pilot had acknowledged seeing the F-16s but he didn’t obey their nonverbal commands to follow them, Kucharek said.
Two F-16 fighters were dispatched this afternoon to track the single-engine plane over the state that was believed stolen in Canada by a student pilot, authorities said. The pilot hadn’t communicated with authorities or the fighter pilots who intercepted the plane at the Michigan-Wisconsin border.
The plane came from the Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport. The plane had enough fuel to fly for nearly eight hours. The Web site cessna.com indicated the Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a four-seater with a range of about 790 miles and top speed of 141 mph.
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