On Saturday in Tupelo, Mississippi (USA), an unlicensed pilot stole a small aircraft and threatened to crash it into a local Walmart department store. After circling for around five hours, the pilot managed to land the plane in a crop field and walk away uninjured.

An aircraft refueler and not a licensed pilot

The suspect, Cory Wayne Patterson, was taken into custody by local law enforcement officers and is facing charges including grand larceny and making terroristic threats, with federal charges to follow. The Washington Post reported that Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said that Patterson stole a twin-engine plane from Tupelo Regional Airport around 05:00 on Saturday morning and called 911 to tell the dispatcher he was going to crash it into a Walmart near the city's downtown. The police said that Patterson worked at Tupelo Aviation fueling aircraft and had some flight experience but "did not appear to be a licensed pilot."

Tupelo King Air LJ-1156
The aircraft's flight path. Data: Flightradar24.com

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane was a Beechcraft King Air 90, which can seat six passengers and has a range of less than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). The FAA added that the plane touched down in a field several miles northwest of Ripley Airport in Ripley, Mississippi. Data from Flightradar24.com identifies the aircraft as a privately owned 35-year-old Beech C90A King Air registration N342ER. The Washington Post report says it was last registered to a Mississippi company, Southeast Aviation.

Negotiators talked him down and averted a crash

Police chief Quaka said that the Walmart store was evacuated just after 05:20, and major streets in Tupelo were closed. Negotiators contacted Patterson and persuaded him not to carry out the threat. A private pilot was called in to help him land the King Air, but at the last minute, Patterson aborted the landing and turned northwest towards Memphis. After circling for a few more hours, with the aircraft running low on fuel, Patterson apologized on Facebook.

Not long after posting his goodbye message, Patterson landed the aircraft in a soybean field, where deputies from the Benton County Sherriff's Office arrested him. They said he was uninjured and did not resist when being detained. The plane was relatively undamaged during the erratic landing.

Quaka said that authorities had not determined what Patterson's motives were, saying, "this is going to take some time to determine. We will run down the motivation, and we will pursue any angle and avenue that there is." Multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the FAA, are involved in the investigation.

Discover more aviation news here!

Threat resolved

The Walmart store facing the crash threat is in a shopping center near downtown Tupelo, close to retail stores, gas stations and residential homes. Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan called Patterson's landing and arrest a "best-case scenario." In a news conference, he said that after the initial threat was resolved, he did not believe Patterson intended to hurt himself or others. "He will get the help he needs as far as whatever he's dealing with."

Will this incident increase calls for tighter security at smaller airports?

Source: Washington Post