Stolen plane in Texas

[BEER980]

Stolen plane flies through power lines in Texas and crashes, pilot vanishes
Monday March 01, 2004

LAKE JACKSON, Texas (AP)
A stolen single-engine airplane flew through power lines, blacking out about 11,000 customers, and then crashed, and the pilot vanished. The FBI joined the investigation and planned to question the owners of other aircraft based at the Brazoria County Airport, said Louis Jones, the county aviation director.

Investigators believe the thief broke into 16 hangars early Sunday before finding a Cessna 172 he was able to commandeer, Jones said. After taking off, the plane severed a series of power lines about two miles southeast of the airport, cutting power to customers in the Lake Jackson area, and then crashed into a field. The impact sheared off the plane's tail and folded back its wings.

``No pilot was found at the crash site,'' Lisa Block, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the Houston Chronicle. Investigators found tracks leading from the wreckage. Heavy haze and fog limited visibility and may have contributed to the crash, authorities said.
Source

[TexasStooge]

WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[southerngale]

That's strange. Most people don't just walk away from airplane crashes.

[nystate]

You may not hear about it a lot, but single engined aircraft are stolen quite often in the US. They usually don't crash right after takeoff, though, which leads me to believe that it was probably not an experienced pilot behind the controls.