bhramos
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F-16s tracking plane stolen at Thunder Bay college?
Two F-16 fighters have been dispatched to track a single-engine plane over Wisconsin that is believed to have been stolen in Thunder Bay, Ont., by a student pilot, according to U.S. officials.
The incident caused the state capitol building in Madison, Wis., to be evacuated temporarily as a precaution.
Mike Kucharek, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, said that by 7:15 p.m. ET, the Cessna 172 had travelled south over Illinois and was approaching the St. Louis area with the pilot refusing to communicate with any authorities.
"We don't know what the motive is," Kucharek said. "I wouldn't want to speculate on that. We are treating this with the most utmost seriousness."
The plane was taken at about 2:30 p.m. from the Aviation Centre of Excellence at Thunder Bay's Confederation College. The pilot had been flying erratically. Fighter pilots who intercepted the plane at the Michigan-Wisconsin border, Kucharek said.
A person hopped the fence Monday afternoon and took off on an unauthorized flight on a Cessna 172, the college's vice-president, Judi Maundrell, told Thunder Bay radio station CKPR.
Maundrell said the college was trying to determine whether the pilot was a student there.
Kucharek said the pilot acknowledged seeing the F-16s but did not immediately obey their nonverbal commands to follow them.
He said the plane is not believed to be a terrorist threat.
It's unknown how much fuel is in the plane or how much training the student pilot has acquired.
In Madison, Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state capitol building was evacuated shortly after 5 p.m. as a precaution.
Many workers had already left for the day and Gov. Jim Doyle was not in the building.
Capitol police ordered everyone out of the building and told them to go at least a block away from the building. Police cars with sirens drove on the sidewalks by the doors of the capitol. Others drove on the streets of the capitol square, with officers instructing people to move away.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/0...ne-stolen.html
Two F-16 fighters have been dispatched to track a single-engine plane over Wisconsin that is believed to have been stolen in Thunder Bay, Ont., by a student pilot, according to U.S. officials.
The incident caused the state capitol building in Madison, Wis., to be evacuated temporarily as a precaution.
Mike Kucharek, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, said that by 7:15 p.m. ET, the Cessna 172 had travelled south over Illinois and was approaching the St. Louis area with the pilot refusing to communicate with any authorities.
"We don't know what the motive is," Kucharek said. "I wouldn't want to speculate on that. We are treating this with the most utmost seriousness."
The plane was taken at about 2:30 p.m. from the Aviation Centre of Excellence at Thunder Bay's Confederation College. The pilot had been flying erratically. Fighter pilots who intercepted the plane at the Michigan-Wisconsin border, Kucharek said.
A person hopped the fence Monday afternoon and took off on an unauthorized flight on a Cessna 172, the college's vice-president, Judi Maundrell, told Thunder Bay radio station CKPR.
Maundrell said the college was trying to determine whether the pilot was a student there.
Kucharek said the pilot acknowledged seeing the F-16s but did not immediately obey their nonverbal commands to follow them.
He said the plane is not believed to be a terrorist threat.
It's unknown how much fuel is in the plane or how much training the student pilot has acquired.
In Madison, Department of Justice spokesman Bill Cosh said the state capitol building was evacuated shortly after 5 p.m. as a precaution.
Many workers had already left for the day and Gov. Jim Doyle was not in the building.
Capitol police ordered everyone out of the building and told them to go at least a block away from the building. Police cars with sirens drove on the sidewalks by the doors of the capitol. Others drove on the streets of the capitol square, with officers instructing people to move away.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/0...ne-stolen.html
