On his second landing, he landed hard, gave it some throttle to avoid the fence, then came down on the road outside the airport. The aircraft was damaged and the boy suffered minor cuts and bruises. Altogether his flight lasted less than half an hour. “It’s a miracle the boy wasn’t killed or someone else wasn’t hurt or killed or that we didn’t have significant property damage from the plane crashing somewhere else,” Fort Payne Mayor Bill Jordan told the Times-Journal. “The last thing you think about is a 14-year-old stealing a plane from the airport.” Airport manager Larry Noble Cowart told The Associated Press, “We’ve never had a problem before with planes being stolen, so I guess we have been a little lax in our security.” The boy was taken to a juvenile detention facility by authorities, charged with stealing the Cessna.
…As The Unexpected Proves Inevitable…
Key Takeaways:
- A 14-year-old boy stole a Cessna from an airport, crashing it on a public road outside the facility after an attempted landing.
- The boy sustained minor injuries, and the aircraft was damaged, with local officials expressing relief that no one was seriously hurt or killed.
- The incident exposed lax security at the airport, and the juvenile was subsequently charged with stealing the plane.
See a mistake? Contact us.
