April 08, 2009

Man Flies Stolen Plane From Can. To Southeast Missouri

Two Comments then you can read the story,


This happened in a place I am quite familiar with. I have stopped at the convenience store that is mentioned on my travels.

Do you really believe this guy was trying to commit suicide by getting jets to blow him up?

I am in a plane and want to die... what do I do? I crash the plane, I do not fly into a foreign country and hope their air force shoots me down. Something fishy...could he be an advance scout testing our new security measures (hey, Abdulla, there are none, we elected one of your sympathizers into office)

Get the whole story here
....A depressed Turkish man accused of stealing a plane in Canada and leading fighter jets on a chase across three American states was charged with transportation of stolen property and illegal entry on Tuesday...
...He was booked and held overnight at the Butler County jail in Missouri before being transferred into the custody of immigration officials. He is currently in the hands of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in St. Louis, where he was jailed, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok....
...The Canadian citizen, who was born in Turkey and changed his name from Yavuz Berke, flew erratically across three states before landing the plane Monday night on a rural highway near Ellsinore, Mo., authorities said...
...The Cessna 172 was reported stolen Monday afternoon from Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Ontario. It was intercepted by F-16 fighters from the Wisconsin National Guard after crossing into the state near the Michigan state line...
...The plane's path over Wisconsin prompted a brief, precautionary evacuation of the Wisconsin capitol in Madison, although few workers were in the building at the time and the governor was not in town.
The plane then flew south over Illinois and eastern Missouri before landing near Ellsinore, about 120 miles southwest of St. Louis...
...Leon was arrested at the Simmons store, a small convenience store near Ellsinore.
Store owner Marilyn Simmons lives near the site where the plane landed on a desolate stretch of U.S. 60 before taxiing onto Route FF. A relative called to tell her about the plane, prompting Simmons to worry about terrorism.
"My husband went and got his guns and gave me one," Simmons said.
She then called the store and told workers to watch out. Sure enough, Leon showed up after a young man who stopped to offer help gave him a ride.
"He gave him $2 and dropped him off," Simmons said. "He asked for the bathroom, then got a Gatorade and sat down at the table. He was there when they came and got him. He was smiling when he went out."
FOXNews.com's Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report....

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