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 aircraft and embarked on a short flight lasting less than half an hour.
- During his second landing attempt, he crash-landed the plane on a road outside the airport, sustaining minor cuts and bruises and damaging the aircraft.
- Authorities charged the boy with stealing the plane, and officials expressed shock and relief that no one was killed, while the airport manager acknowledged lax security.
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