rotornut
1st Mar 2006, 11:18
US boys 'steal plane to run away'
Two teenage boys came down to earth with a bump after apparently stealing a plane to run away from home - and then crash-landing in a California desert.
Police said one of the 14-year-olds stole the keys to the single-engined plane from his father, and the pair then took off from Big Bear Airport.
But the boys are thought to have run out of fuel soon after, forcing them to come down in Joshua Tree National Park.
They escaped with minor injuries but were arrested on suspicion of theft.
'Erratic' flying
The pair, from Big Bear Lake, are thought to have been heading for Mexico when they crashed.
They were found in the desert by park rangers, who said they were lucky not to have done serious damage to themselves or the plane.
The alarm was raised after two local pilots spotted the Mooney M20C aircraft taking off in an erratic manner and called the police.
Police believe the boy who piloted the plane had learned the rudiments of flying by watching his father in the cockpit.
Cindy Beavers, spokeswoman for San Bernardino county sheriff's department, said the teenagers had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a plane and burglary, for entering the hangar without permission.
"There was a disagreement between the boys and their parents and [the boys] decided to run away," she told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
In California, teenagers can gain a student pilot's certificate aged 16.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4762260.stm
Two teenage boys came down to earth with a bump after apparently stealing a plane to run away from home - and then crash-landing in a California desert.
Police said one of the 14-year-olds stole the keys to the single-engined plane from his father, and the pair then took off from Big Bear Airport.
But the boys are thought to have run out of fuel soon after, forcing them to come down in Joshua Tree National Park.
They escaped with minor injuries but were arrested on suspicion of theft.
'Erratic' flying
The pair, from Big Bear Lake, are thought to have been heading for Mexico when they crashed.
They were found in the desert by park rangers, who said they were lucky not to have done serious damage to themselves or the plane.
The alarm was raised after two local pilots spotted the Mooney M20C aircraft taking off in an erratic manner and called the police.
Police believe the boy who piloted the plane had learned the rudiments of flying by watching his father in the cockpit.
Cindy Beavers, spokeswoman for San Bernardino county sheriff's department, said the teenagers had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a plane and burglary, for entering the hangar without permission.
"There was a disagreement between the boys and their parents and [the boys] decided to run away," she told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
In California, teenagers can gain a student pilot's certificate aged 16.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4762260.stm