6 Apr 09 - USA F-16's Intercept CAN Cessna

[milnews.ca]

Mods - if this works better elsewhere, feel free to move, and thanks.

NORAD news release: NORAD fighters respond to airspace violation

Two F-16 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a small Cessna aircraft near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Wisconsin border (6 Apr 09) at approximately 4:43 p.m. EDT.

F-16 aircraft from the Minnesota Air National Guard initially scrambled out of Duluth, Minn., were replaced by fighters from the Wisconsin Air National Guard based out of Madison, Wisc., who then handed off the pursuit to the Louisiana Air National Guard fighters from New Orleans.

The civilian aircraft departed Thunder Bay, Ontario without Navigation Canada authority and was reported as stolen. It entered United States airspace from the north and was headed south over Lake Superior at approximately 4:23 p.m. EDT. After intercept, the pilot acknowledged the fighters but was unresponsive to specific non-verbal commands. U.S. Customs Border Protection aircraft intercepted the Cessna as well, but the F-16s followed the aircraft until it landed in an area 23 miles northwest of Poplar Bluff, Mo., at 9:45 p.m. EDT.

The intent of military intercepts is to have the identified aircraft re-establish communications with local FAA air traffic controllers and instruct the pilot to follow air traffic controllers to land safely for further follow-on action ....

More from Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

[jmm99]

despite Mr. Leon's hopes.

Mo. trooper: Plane thief hoped to be shot down
Canadian reportedly wanted U.S. fighter jets to help him commit suicide
updated 9:38 a.m. ET, Tues., April. 7, 2009

WAUSAU, Wisconsin - A man suspected of stealing a plane in Canada and flying erratically across three states was trying to commit suicide, hoping he would be shot down by military fighter planes, a state trooper said Tuesday.
....
The Missouri state trooper who arrested Leon said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the pilot told him he had hoped to be shot down.

"He made a statement that he was trying to commit suicide and he didn't have the courage to do it himself. And his idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States, where he would be shot down," Trooper Justin Watson said on ABC.
.....
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told CNN that Leon was a native of Turkey who changed his name from Yavuz Berke and became a Canadian citizen last year.

Once upon a time, the jets would have scrambled from K.I. Sawyer. That was then; this is now.

[milnews.ca]

From a news release from the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Missouri - highlights mine:

Adam Dylan Leon was charged today in a federal complaint with transportation of stolen property and illegal entry for flying a stolen Cessna 172 aircraft into the United States from Canada, announced U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway.

According to the affidavit filed with the federal complaint: Yesterday afternoon, April 6, 2009, a Cessna 172 took off from an airport in the area of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, without approval from air traffic control and without radio contact. The plane was owned by Confederation College, a flight training school, in Thunder Bay. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later determined that the plane was stolen by Adam Leon, a student at Confederation College and that he did not have authorization to fly the plane.

Due to the unknown nature of the flight and Leon’s lack of radio communication, appropriate authorities were notified of the plane’s location and direction of travel for public safety. U.S. Department of Defense aircraft intercepted the Cessna 172 after it entered United States airspace. Attempts to communicate with Leon were unsuccessful. Leon landed the plane on a road off of Highway 60 near Ellsinore, Mo. He was arrested by the Missouri Highway Patrol at a local grocery store in Ellsinore.

Yavuz Berke, a/k/a Adam Dylan Leon, 31, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, was charged in the federal complaint with a violation of Title 18, USC, Section 2312, interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft; and Title 8, USC , 1325(a)(1), illegal entry into the United States.

Interstate transportation of stolen property carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. Illegally entering the United States carries a penalty of six months prison.

The charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

[davidbfpo]

Why not just extradite him back to Canada to deal with? Especially it is portrayed as a suicide attempt.

davidbfpo

[Ken White]

until extradited plus (probably more important in the eyes of some) this way the cost of the intercept can be (more figuratively than literally) charged to Canada for not better controlling their border. Political gamesmanship, I suspect. Stupid in any event IMO.

[jmm99]

Last nite, Fox (Jonathan Hunt) placed the cost of this little chase at about $500K. Once upon a time, three AFBs in Michigan's UP provided air border security (see attached): Kincheloe AFB (near S.S.Marie); K. I. Sawyer (near Marquette); and the Keweenaw Radar Base (near Calumet).

Now, all memories - no more B-52s flying low on training missions:

One of the oddest memories harked back to a time when Calumet hosted a radar station and Marquette County’s K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base was home to massive B-52 bombers. These two factors combined to startle a visitor standing on the Brockway Mountain overlook who looked down to see a huge B-52 flying through the valley between the overlook and the lodge. The plane, of course, was trying to sneak past the Calumet radar base without being detected.

The path of this Thunder Bay plane was shown variously, but seems to have been roughly as in the attached map. As a practical matter, once the plane took off, there was little the Canadians could do (even assuming they have jets anywhere close to TB). Same thing if a stolen plane was flown north from our local airport north of Hancock (see big map). We (US) have to be able to intercept planes (or boats - a single CG station covering a lot of territory) coming south from Canada - and vice versa.

Is our northern border porous ? - you betcha; but bundles of $$ have been "saved" over the years since the base closings.

[Entropy]

I heard some state official (Missouri, I think) say on the news that they intended to keep and prosecute him if they could.

[milnews.ca]

....defence counsel asked for (and is getting) a psychiatric assessment for his client, according to CanWest News Service:

A Canadian man who allegedly stole a plane and flew it to the United States in hopes that he would be shot down by F-16 fighter pilots was ordered Friday to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Adam Dylan Leon, 31, briefly appeared Friday for a detention hearing in a federal courtroom in St. Louis.

A magistrate judge granted the defence's request for Leon to be examined by medical experts to determine if he will be fit to stand trial.

His psychiatric evaluation will be completed "as soon as possible" which means that it may take as long as 30 days, said Terri Dougherty, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the meantime, Leon remains in federal custody and will be transported back to prison ....