Turk jailed for flying stolen Canadian plane into U.S. airspace

Update to this story. Was it a dry run to test U.S. airspace?

A Canadian student pilot who stole a plane from a flight school in Thunder Bay, Ont., and flew it over four American states before landing on a road in Missouri was sentenced Tuesday to two years in a U.S. federal prison.

Adam Dylan Leon, 31, had pleaded guilty in August to all three charges against him: interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a stolen aircraft and illegal entry.

Leon admitted that on April 6 he stole a four-seat Cessna 172 from the Confederation College Flight School, where he was a student, and flew it over Lake Superior and across the U.S. border.

The flight continued over Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois before the plane landed more than seven hours later on a road near Ellsinore in southern Missouri.

The unauthorized flight into U.S. air space prompted two F-16 jet fighters into action, tailing the plane until it landed.

Leon was born Yavuz Berke in Turkey before moving to Canada, changing his name and becoming a naturalized citizen.

Read it all via CBC News – World – Canadian jailed for flying stolen plane into U.S..