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High Drama in US Airspace

What: Cessna 172 en route from a Canadian flight school into US Airspace
Where: US Airspace
When: about 3 p.m
Who: one person aboard
Why: The flight was intercepted by U.S. military aircraft when the unnamed pilot flew into US Airspace and did not respond. The plane was reported as stolen from a Thunder Bay, Canada flight school. Canadian authorities requested that U.S. aircraft tail the plane in U.S. airspace, hence the two U.S. Air Force F-16 jets.

The pilot, Yavuz Berke aka Adam Leon, landed on Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., at 9:50 p.m. ET, and was caught by Missouri State Highway Patrol officers. He’s an ex-pat Turk, and naturalized Canadian. He is reportedly depressed and either left his girlfriend (or left her a note.) In any case, he left his car and keys at the airport.

With 2 F-16’s on his tail all day, he’s incredibly lucky to be alive and currently enjoying the hospitality of whatever government facility is housing him now (and likely to be housing him for a very long time.)

The category selected here is “pilot error” and “alarm.” And while this is actually a misuse of the sorting system, I’m thinking it is warranted because if this is not an error of the pilot and cause for alarm, what is?

George’s Point of View

Yavuz Berke aka Adam Leon is going to be enjoying government hospitality for a long, long time. Yavuz–or if I may call you Adam–as a parent and a human being, I am very sorry that you have chosen to damage your own life so terribly; and I am amazed and warmed by the restraint of our jet pilots who were charged at bringing you down should you prove a threat.

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    Cessna Crash in Ojinaga, Mexico

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    Where: 28 miles northwest of Ojinaga, Mexico
    When: September 15, 2008, approximately 1318 central daylight time
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    The airplane wreckage was located on September 17, 2008, by the Marfa Sector of the US Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Division, on the west side of the Sierra Grande Mountains, at an approximate elevation of 6,500 feet mean sea level (msl). The airplane came to rest approximately 100-150 feet below the top of a ridgeline on a heading of 055 degrees along victor-airway V81.

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    Volcanic Ash Manual Now Available from ICAO


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