NEWS: Stolen Airplane Used to Severe Power Lines

A small airplane was stolen this morning in Lake Jackson, TX and was flown through power lines cutting off the power to about 11,000 people. The pilot of the plane left the crash site and has not been found.

CanadaEast.com
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 three kilometers 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.

This story may not be terror related, but obviously the thief was determined to steal an airplane, and the motives have to be questioned. This event underlines the vulnerability of our power grid, and how a determined individual or group could use a stolen airplane to cause damage to critical infrastructure.


[Edited on 1-3-2004 by dbates]

[Edited on 1-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

[Edited on 16-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

That's weird, because today while I was at school, the power went out at around 11:30, but I live in MO.

maybe it was a hi-tech alquida operation gone wrong.
Or maybe it was a dumb pilot that ccouldnt fly

Hello gang,

The crash was caused by an inexperenced pilot, (robber, most likely trying to steal a plane to smuggle drugs, or the plane itself, accross the river to Mexico not far away, one tank of gas), taking off from a small airport at 3:45 AM in a low level fog after cutting, not picking, the locks on a hanger that contained several planes. Simply a punk kid, nothing more.

What this brings into question is the security at the small airports post 9/11. There was no one on duty guarding the airport. This guy cut the locks on a dozen planes and pulled out a (two prop I think) Beechcraft but decided on a single engine job instead.

I'm a locksmith and I know that planes dont have a hoots worth of protection against theft on the most part especially at an airport that is left unguarded at night like this one was. They dropped the ball plain and simple. No conspiracy here just stupidity.

TERRORISM: Stolen Airplane Used to Severe Power Lines

this whole label first and find out the facts later business has got to stop.

Here's a link to the latest info as of this morning:


www.chron.com...

The man that owned the plane left his keys in the ignition to make it easy for the guy to steal.

It seems he started cutting locks about 3:45 AM or so according to information I have and according to the witnesses flew off about 6:30AM.

The power line he hit was a minor one about 100 feet high. It was South of the little airport that has no major traffic about 2 miles out.

I think he was headed over the border when he hit the line in the fog because he was trying to fly low to avoid contact by the radar at Houstons' Hobby just to the north and the Texas National Guard base (formerly USAF) at Elington Field that is right down the road along with the interceptors stationed there looking for unauthorized air traffic or maybe he was thinking about his next crack rock instead of flying the plane.

This kind of drug trafficing / stealing for resale goes on all the time around here. This little skinny crack head was too sloppy to be a terrorist.

Great additions TexasConspiracyNut!

Two thumbs up.