Female Juvenile Arrested For Stealing and Crashing Private Plane
About 7:30AM on Wednesday December 18th, a 17-year old girl snuck into the General Aviation area of the Fresno Airport by climbing a fence.
She then boarded a King Air 200 propeller-driven aircraft and managed to start one of the engines. She drove the airplane in a pivot motion before crashing into the Signature TECHNICAir Aircraft Maintenance building near Shields and Winery Avenues on airport property.
The plane never left the ground and there were no injuries. Additionally, no passengers or commercial airlines were ever in danger during the incident. The King Air 200 aircraft did sustain substantial damage.
The teen, whose name and image will not be released because she is a minor, was found by Fresno Police officers in the pilot seat, wearing the pilot headset.
She resisted while officers were arresting her for theft of an aircraft and appeared disoriented but eventually relented. She was booked at the juvenile detention hall. While a motive has yet to be established, there is no evidence this was an act of domestic terrorism.
Photo from ABC News
