A Tupelo Aviation employee allegedly stole a twin-engine plane at the city’s airport early Saturday, took off, and threatened to crash into a local Walmart before eventually landing unharmed in a field.
Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka disclosed this at a news briefing on Saturday afternoon.
Quaka identified the man piloting the aircraft as Cory Wayne Patterson of Shannon, Mississippi.
“We do not believe he is a licensed pilot. That is still ongoing to discover this,” the police chief said.
Patterson worked at Tupelo Aviation — which provides fueling and other services at Tupelo’s airport — for 10 years as a lineman fueling aircraft, Quaka said.
“We do know that that aircraft was fully fueled the night before,” he added.
Patterson took off from the Tupelo airport shortly after 5 a.m. CT, and soon afterward called 911 from the plane to say he would crash it into a Walmart in the city, the police chief said.
Quaka said that while negotiators were able to convince the pilot not to crash into the store, he decided not to land during what was supposed to be the final approach back into the Tupelo Regional Airport.
“Negotiators from Tupelo Police Department made contact with the pilot and were able to convince him to not carry out this deed and to land the aircraft at Tupelo airport. The pilot did not have experience to land an aircraft. A private pilot assisted us in helping this pilot complete this. However, it was not completed. Upon final approach, the pilot aborted the landing and traveled in a northwest direction away from Tupelo,” he said.
Police said Patterson posted a “goodbye” message on his Facebook page from the aircraft at 9:32 a.m. CT.
“Sorry everyone. Never actually wanted to hurt anyone. I love my parents and sister this isn’t your fault. Goodbye,” Patterson wrote in the post. His account now appears to be disabled or deleted.
Around the time the message was posted, “we know he was getting close to running out of fuel,” Quaka said.
“At 10:08 a.m., FAA lost radar contact with the aircraft. At 10:12 a.m., our negotiator re-established contact with the pilot. The pilot confirmed he had landed in a field, and he was uninjured,” he said.
The plane landed northwest of Ripley Airport in Ripley, Mississippi, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“This is more likely a crime of opportunity,” Quaka said.
Patterson was in contact with family members at some point during the flight, Quaka said, adding it is too early in the investigation to determine a motive in this incident.
Tupelo resident says she was about to get diapers from Walmart when the plane flew right over her home
Sommer Thornton, a resident of Tupelo who lives near the Mississippi city’s airport, said she woke up around 6 a.m. local time to get diapers from the nearby Walmart for a baby shower. But then she opened up Facebook and read the news that police said a pilot was threatening to crash a plane into a Walmart in the city.
Local news reports were advising the community to stay away from the store, she told CNN.
Thornton said she heard a plane buzzing above, but didn’t think much of it. “I live right beside the airport, so it’s normal for me to hear airplanes,” she said.
When she walked out of her home, she saw a small plane flying quite low.
“And it kept circling around and around and then it dropped down,” she told CNN.
“He literally flew over everything,” Thornton is heard saying in a video she shared with CNN that shows the plane zipping by right above her home.
Thornton said she wanted to get a poster and write phrases like, “You are loved” and “Please come down,” hoping the individual flying the plane would see it.
Then she remembered the plane could run out of fuel, so she ran inside her house to get her husband and told him they needed to get their kids and evacuate.
As they started rounding the kids up, news reports came in saying the plane had moved away from Tupelo, so they stayed put.
Thornton said she was still in shock hours after the plane left her area.
“I just wanted to get diapers,” she said.
CNN
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