Two Teens Who Stole Plane, Took It For Joyride Arrested

The Uintah County Sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday two teenage boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested near the Vernal Regional Airport, Utah, after they stole a small plane from a private airstrip and flew it about 15 miles.

The boys left a group home earlier this week and stayed at their friend’s place. On Thursday, they gained access to a tractor and drove it to a private airstrip where they stole a single-engine Cessna airplane.

"The plane was witnessed flying very low along US-40 near Gusher, Uintah County, about 32 miles west of Jensen. Based on information obtained by investigators, the teens mentioned flying back towards the Wasatch Front, but decided not to and returned to Vernal where they landed at the airport,” the Uintah County Sheriff's office said in a news release.

They were charged and held at Split Mountain Youth Detention Center in Vernal. The investigation is ongoing.

In a similar incident in August, a man stole a plane, belonging to Alaska Airlines, from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington, and flew it for hours before crashing it on a nearby island. The man did not survive the crash.

Audio from the air traffic control showed the flight had contacted the center to know how to land the plane. When the air controller told him to land it in water, he disagreed and said, “I don’t think I would be happy with you telling me I could land like that.”

“There are still a lot of unknowns surrounding tonight's tragic incident of a stolen Horizon Airline plane. The responding fighter pilots flew alongside the aircraft and were ready to do whatever was needed to protect us, but in the end the man flying the stolen plane crashed. I want to thank the Air National Guard from Washington and Oregon for scrambling jets to keep Washingtonians safe. Those pilots are trained for moments like tonight and showed they are ready and capable,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had tweeted.

“An airline employee conducted an unauthorized takeoff without passengers at Sea-Tac; aircraft has crashed in south Puget Sound. Normal operations at Sea-Tac Airport have resumed,” the SeaTac Airport tweeted later.

“The plane, which was taken from a maintenance position and was not scheduled for passenger flight, crashed about an hour later in a wooded area on Ketron Island in rural Pierce County. No ground structures were involved at the crash site,” Alaska Airlines confirmed in a statement.