Shortly after I got my first plane my, and several other hangars, were broken into and the 172 next to mine was stolen and wrecked. My plane was in the flight schools hangar at another airport where I was taking lessons or mine would have been taken.
This took place in the Houston area and the FBI got heavily involved thinking it was an attempt by a terrorist to crash a plane into a nearby chemical plant.
In the end it was a guy that got drunk and decided to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of flying an airplane. He made it to the power lines a mile or so south of the runway. The plane hung up in the power lines by its propped and the plane hit tail-first, crushing the fuselage up to the back of the wings.
The drunk didn’t get a scratch, managed to get out of the plane and walked home. He turned himself into the local sherrif’s office after seeing a news conference by the FBI and homeland security announcing there search for the possible terrorist. He got 5- or 10-years in a federal pen.
I don’t leave my keys in my plane while it’s in my hangar like I used to.
gary
