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Stolen Canadian plane lands in Missouri

by Barry ORegan | April 6, 2009 at 09:40 pm

313 views | 48 Recommendations | 5 comments

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Lucky for the pilot, F-16s didnt shoot him down, and two, this guy is lucky Gitmo is closing, otherwise someone would be eatin **** sandwiches, courtesty of the guards,

The Cessna 172 was taken around 2:55 p.m. ET and soon crossed into the United States, passing over Wisconsin and Illinois as it was tracked by two F-16 fighter jets.

Nearly eight hours later, the pilot landed on a dirt road in the southern Missouri town of Ellsinore and fled on foot.

Authorities allege 31-year-old Adam Dylan Leon, a native of Turkey who became a Canadian citizen last year, flew the stolen plane. He was arrested just outside Ellsinore late Monday night.

Lt.-Cmdr. Gary Ross, a spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the pilot did not respond to radio calls from the jets or the FAA during the entire pursuit.

He also said the pilot refused to acknowledge the nonverbal communications from the F-16 jets to follow them. It appears the plane only landed as it came close to running out of fuel.

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Mary Richard

at 21:45 on April 6th, 2009

Turkey native, huh? Interesting. I didn't catch that part on CNN. Thanks for posting.

Ravi Dixit

at 22:21 on April 6th, 2009

Is it that easy to enter US airspace? Maybe they must not be looking hard towards Canada for threats, but it is pretty alarming!! with so many flight schools in CANADA. Scary and it did take Mr. Leon 1 hour to reach US airspace.

The state Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin was closed as the plane flew over that section of the state. The building was evacuated and police cars drove on the foot paths by the doors of the Capitol. Others patrolled the streets of Capitol square.

Mary Richard

at 05:15 on April 7th, 2009

Apparently it was not considered to be a terrorist threat, here's the latest on this, from AP:

"He made a statement that he was trying to commit suicide and he didn't have the courage to do it himself. And his idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States, where he would be shot down," Trooper Justin Watson said on ABC.