Hijacked C172 crashes into Van Nuys airport building

Oxman

Well-Known Member
Hijacked? really. I'll agree to stolen.



1766093585298.png



Thieves broke into a flight school at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles and hijacked a plane – before crashing it into a building, according to authorities.

A single-engine Cessna was stolen from the airport, and one person has been detained, according to NBC4.

Law enforcement told the outlet that the plane did not get off the ground, and it is unclear whether there authorities are searching for anyone else in connection.
 
I wonder if it came from an open hangar behind the tail and went straight ahead into the hangar. Must have known enough to get the engine started but not enough to steer it.
 
A really bad job just taxiing....
It looks like they ran the left wingtip into the hangar and the plane turned hard left. I'm going to speculate and suggest they were taxiing at a rapid pace with all of their exterior lights off and someone (student pilot and a drunk friend) might've had a couple too many beers. I will say the noise of a prop cutting through sheet metal is pretty loud. I was at work once and heard a horrendous (although brief) noise come from the blast fence/run-up area at KVNY, we were pretty close so we walked over to see what caused it. Apparently a 182 was doing a run-up and they either weren't on the brakes or just trusted the parking brake and the pilot had their head below the glare shield and it got away from them. No one was hurt and it was a fairly new 182 so I'd imagine it was repaired rather than scrapped but I have no idea how much that mistake cost.
 
Did you see the hole they made in the flight school entrance door to get in. I guess a big axe would do that. That would make some noise, too.
 
Did you see the hole they made in the flight school entrance door to get in. I guess a big axe would do that. That would make some noise, too.
It's an airport not a cemetery. Peace and quiet is not customary. And that's on Balboa Blvd, hearing axes chopping through doors is probably pretty common.
 
How does a 2008 C172S become worth $450,000?
Market value? There's a lot that goes into how much an airplane is worth, such as the aforementioned avionics, the time on the engine, the time on the airframe, overall condition and most importantly availability. If there's only a couple for sale and you have a hundred interested buyers the price naturally goes up.
 
Back
Top