# USA F-16's Chase CAN Light Plane That Took Off Without Permission



## The Bread Guy (7 Apr 2009)

:tsktsk: , especially post 9-11 - MSM links below NORAD statement.

*NORAD fighters respond to airspace violation*
NORAD news release, 6 Apr 09
News release link


> PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. —Two F-16 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a small Cessna aircraft near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Wisconsin border today at approximately 4:43 p.m. EDT.
> 
> F-16 aircraft from the Minnesota Air National Guard initially scrambled out of  Duluth, Minn., were replaced by fighters from the Wisconsin Air National Guard based out of Madison, Wisc., who then handed off the pursuit to the Louisiana Air National Guard fighters from New Orleans.
> 
> ...



More from the Associated Press, CanWest News Service, CBC.ca, CTV.ca, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

_- edited to add AFP story link -_


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## GAP (7 Apr 2009)

Rogue pilot ends flight on Missouri highway
JOSH WINGROVE Globe and Mail update April 7, 2009 at 4:32 AM EDT
  Article Link

The pilot of a stolen Canadian trainer plane ignored the warnings of U.S. fighter jets to land before finally putting down on a southern Missouri highway Monday night, after the plane was stolen from a Northern Ontario college and taken on a rogue flight into U.S. airspace.

The pilot, identified by police as 31-year-old Adam Dylan Leon, eventually landed the plane on a rural road, reportedly tried to hide it under a bridge, and hitched a ride to a nearby grocer. Inside, he bought a bottle of Gatorade and waited for 30 minutes before being arrested.

"The plane was put down, the suspect fled the aircraft on foot, and local authorities subsequently picked him up," said RCMP superintendent Tim Cogan.

The ordeal began after the plane took off at 2:55 p.m. ET from the airport in Thunder Bay, Ont., which sits on the northern shores of Lake Superior just north of the Minnesota border.

The pilot had entered the fenced-in area where Confederation College keeps about a dozen planes used in its flight schools. The college said earlier in the night it couldn't say if the pilot was a student, but a friend of Mr. Leon's said he'd been taking flight courses in Thunder Bay.

The plane had the keys in it and was behind locked barriers, said Judi Maundrell, vice-president Academic and Student Services at the college.

"He had access [to the hangar], so obviously there's some connection, but I'm not sure what that connection is," Supt. Cogan said, adding the man was a Canadian citizen. CNN reported a suicide note was found near the hangar.

The pilot got in a Cessna 172 single-engine plane with full fuel tanks, and took off.

The pilot's path took him across Lake Superior and into the northern tip of Michigan, when two American F-16 fighter jets began following it.

The pilot, who is alleged to have been Mr. Leon, acknowledged the two F-16 Falcons visually, but did not speak with authorities over the radio. He then went through two other states — prompting an evacuation of Wisconsin's capitol building — before landing along Route FF, near Ellsinore, Mo., a town about 200 kilometres southwest of St. Louis.

"He did land on his own accord, and he's currently under the jurisdiction of local authorities," North American Aerospace Defense Command Master Sergeant Claudette Hutchinson said.

After landing the plane around 9:45 ET, the suspect fled into the woods, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Marty Elmore said.

According to staff at nearby grocery store and restaurant, he hitched a ride with another person before entering Simmons Grocery & Hardware, near Ellsinore. He used the facilities and bought a drink.

"He sat in here in the store with us for like 30 minutes. He heard us talking about people looking for a man who was running from the law," said Teresa Davidson, 41, a cashier at the place. Mr. Leon tried to buy beef jerky and a lemon-lime Gatorade, but only had enough for the drink, she said.

"He did seem a little nervous, but he didn't act strange or nothing," Ms. Davidson told The Globe and Mail. Then, around 10:20 ET, "Oh man there was just cops everywhere, they just came in and got him."

He went peacefully, she said. Staff identified him as an outsider when he asked to use a "washroom" instead of a "bathroom."

"It has been a crazy night. We was very scared," she said.

Sgt. Elmore said Mr. Leon would be facing a number of charges, and was to be handed over to federal authorities.

His flight path was erratic, and he never did speak with authorities over the radio, NORAD's Master Sgt. Hutchinson said.

"No indication of communication … He just was erratic for a period of time there, and then landed," she said.
More on link


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## Sub_Guy (7 Apr 2009)

GAP said:
			
		

> "It has been a crazy night. We was very scared," she said.



Cue the banjo.

What was this guy thinking?  I know Thunder Bay is a dump, but why on earth would you cross the border?


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## OldSolduer (7 Apr 2009)

WTF was he thinking? That the US would welcome him with open arms? He'll be lucky if all he gets is a few years in a US Federal prison.


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## Sub_Guy (7 Apr 2009)

US Federal Prison or Thunder Bay...   

I think he made the right choice   ;D


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## GAP (7 Apr 2009)

According to the news this AM...he is of Turkish decent, became a Canadian just a year ago..........

Why do we import the weirdo's.....we have enough home grown ones as it is.....


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## The Bread Guy (7 Apr 2009)

The latest from the Associated Press:


> A man suspected of stealing a plane in Canada and flying erratically across three states was trying to commit suicide, hoping he would be shot down by military fighter planes, a state trooper said Tuesday.
> 
> Adam Dylan Leon, 31, was arrested at a convenience store in Ellsinore, Mo., shortly after landing the single-engine, four-seat Cessna on a rural Missouri road Monday night, ending a six-hour flight, police said.
> 
> ...


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## benny88 (7 Apr 2009)

How does one follow a -172 in an F-16? I'm pretty sure the former's top speed is slower than the latter's stall speed!


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## GAP (7 Apr 2009)

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



I think we should send a protest note about the US not accommodating him.....HE HAS THE RIGHT!!!.......sorta...


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## Snakedoc (7 Apr 2009)

benny88 said:
			
		

> How does one follow a -172 in an F-16? I'm pretty sure the former's top speed is slower than the latter's stall speed!



I was wondering the same thing.  The bathroom vs. washroom reference was also amusing.  Good thing nothing worse happen considering the fact this guy was trying to commit suicide and all.


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## Loachman (7 Apr 2009)

benny88 said:
			
		

> How does one follow a -172 in an F-16? I'm pretty sure the former's top speed is slower than the latter's stall speed!



F16s, like other aircraft, can turn...


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## WannaBeFlyer (7 Apr 2009)

Snakedoc said:
			
		

> I was wondering the same thing.  The bathroom vs. washroom reference was also amusing.  Good thing nothing worse happen considering the fact this guy was trying to commit suicide and all.



Suicide? Nah. Just a giant cry for help. 

I can think of a number of ways you can effectively kill yourself in a 172; crossing the border and hoping some Vipers wipe me out would not be one of them.


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## The Bread Guy (8 Apr 2009)

Here's details of the charges laid - highlights mine:


> Adam Dylan Leon was charged today in a federal complaint with *transportation of stolen property* and *illegal entry* for flying a stolen Cessna 172 aircraft into the United States from Canada, announced U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway.
> 
> According to the affidavit filed with the federal complaint:  Yesterday afternoon, April 6, 2009, a Cessna 172 took off from an airport in the area of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, without approval from air traffic control and without radio contact.  The plane was owned by Confederation College, a flight training school, in Thunder Bay.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later determined that the plane was stolen by Adam Leon, a student at Confederation College and that he did not have authorization to fly the plane.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (8 Apr 2009)

If the Google Translate version is to be trusted, Turkish media are quoting a NORAD spokesperson saying the chase cost ~$500K - original in Turkish here.


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## ex-Sup (10 Apr 2009)

Dolphin_Hunter said:
			
		

> Cue the banjo.
> 
> What was this guy thinking?  I know Thunder Bay is a dump, but why on earth would you cross the border?


I hope you're not being serious, 'cause I'd have a few things to say!


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## The Bread Guy (11 Apr 2009)

According to CanWest News Service:


> A Canadian man who allegedly stole a plane and flew it to the United States in hopes that he would be shot down by F-16 fighter pilots was ordered Friday to undergo a psychiatric examination.
> 
> Adam Dylan Leon, 31, briefly appeared Friday for a detention hearing in a federal courtroom in St. Louis.
> 
> ...


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## Jarnhamar (11 Apr 2009)




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## old medic (3 Nov 2009)

Canadian gets 2 years for flying plane over 3 U.S. states

The Canadian Press
Date: Tuesday Nov. 3, 2009
copy at : http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091103/leon_sentence_091103/20091103?hub=Canada



> ST. LOUIS — A 31-year-old Canadian man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing a plane in Canada and flying over three states before landing along a dark southern Missouri highway.
> 
> Adam Dylan Leon had admitted in August to all federal charges he'd faced: interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a stolen aircraft and illegal entry.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (4 Nov 2009)

.... here:


> .... “Illegally entering the United States in a stolen plane is tantamount to a breach of our nation's borders,” said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago. “We work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify border security threats and investigate those who violate U.S. immigration and customs laws.”
> 
> “This turned out not to be a terrorist act and fortunately no one got hurt,” said Roland J. Corvington, special agent in charge of the FBI in St. Louis. “But today’s sentencing shows how the FBI and its partners take national security seriously by dedicating unlimited hours and resources needed to resolve what was a threat at the time.”
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (22 Mar 2011)

Reviving necrothread with latest - he's back in Canada, facing the music with charges of theft over $5K:


> The Thunder Bay man who stole a college airplane and flew it into the U.S. returned to Canada Friday.
> 
> Officials with the Thunder Bay Police Service confirmed Monday that Adam Dylan Leon, 33, was taken into custody by the Niagara Regional Police Service after he crossed the border into the country from Fort Erie, Ont.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (8 Jul 2011)

> The man who allegedly stole a plane from Confederation College in April 2009 will have to wait until September to face the charges against him.  The case against 33-year-old Adam Dylan Leon, charged with theft over $5,000, was adjourned to Sept. 1 during a Friday (8 Jul 11) hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice.  Leon is accused of stealing the Confederation College plane and going on an unauthorized flight across three U.S. states on April 6, 2009 ....


Source:  tbnewswatch.com, 8 Jul 11


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## The Bread Guy (5 Oct 2011)

Bump up with the latest.....


> The Thunder Bay man who stole a college airplane and flew it into the U.S. won’t appear in court again until next month.  Attorneys met briefly in the Ontario Court of Justice in Thunder Bay on Wednesday to adjourn the matter of Adam Leon until Nov. 2. Leon did not appear in court as he was in Toronto and was represented by his lawyer ....


tbnewswatch.com, 5 Oct 11


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## The Bread Guy (29 May 2012)

Bump with the latest....





> The man accused of stealing a Confederation College plane in 2009 continues to wait to discover his fate.
> 
> Adam Leon’s laywer, Neil McCartney, filed an argument in writing Monday morning on whether his client can be prosecuted in Canada after having already been convicted and jailed for two years in an American prison for illegally entering the United States and interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft.
> 
> ...


tbnewswatch.com, 28 May 12


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## dogger1936 (29 May 2012)

"He has told the court he suffered from depression."

When I'm feeling a little blue I steal planes and cross international boarders with it. I am so sick and tired of seeing depression or PTSD being used as a catch-all. 

I murdered my wife cause my mom didnt love me.... :


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## Sigs Pig (29 May 2012)

"He learned in December 2010 that he would be released from prison and sent back to Canada, where there were outstanding warrants for his arrest because of the laws broken in this country as a result of the plane theft."
His lawyer only now submitted papers? Stall and then throw it out, that is our justice system (read: lawyers salary)

Dogger, I hear ya...

My dad used to be unhappy with the fact the small depression in the field would fill with rainwater and nothing had a chance to grow there, but he never contemplated suicide. That was my upbringing on depression.

ME


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## The Bread Guy (18 Dec 2012)

> Adam Leon will have another day in court as his special plea was dismissed Tuesday.
> 
> A Confederation College aviation student at the time, Leon made international headlines in 2009 when he stole a plane from the school’s aviation program near Thunder Bay International Airport and flew into U.S. airspace before coming down in Missouri.
> 
> ...


tbnewswatch.com, 18 Dec 12


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