No, this isn’t even remotely a tech blog entry this time. This is an entertainment blog. Because sometimes, reality really is stranger than fiction.  Such as the story of one Adam Leon.

Adam Dylan Leon, age 31, did something a little crazy yesterday.  At about 2:30pm on the 6th of April, Adam stole a Cessna 172 from the Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Adam then proceeded to fly south down through Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and eventually Missouri.  Along the way he was joined by two F-16 Falcon fighter jets from the Wisconsin National Guard, who were authorized to shoot him down, but merely escorted him as Adam was not believed to be a terrorist and never did anything to pose as a threat other than a little erratic flying and failing to respond to any and all communications.  He seemed to intentionally avoid flying over any heavily populated areas, and actually flew above the Cessna’s ceiling.

Along the way, the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison briefly evacuated all personnel as a precaution just after 5pm, even though the governor was not in town.  A case of better safe than sorry.

Adam’s flight came to an end as he landed his stolen Cessna on Route FF, near Ellsinore, Mo.  Adam then proceeded to flee into the woods, evading police.  Once clear, he hitch-hiked to Simmons Grocery & Hardware, near Ellsinore, where he tried to purchase some lemon-lime Gatorade and beef jerky.  Unfortunately Adam didn’t have sufficient cash for it all, so he settled on just the Gatorade.  Approximately thirty minutes later, around 10:20pm, while listening to store staff talk about the police search for him and still calmly sipping his drink, police flooded the store and arrested him.  Adam went willingly, asking only that he please be allowed to use the rest room.  I guess because of all that Gatorade.

Approximate flight path of Adam Dylan Leon on his suicide Cessna theft, courtesy of Google Earth.

Purportedly, Adam left a suicide note near the hangar where he stole the Cessna.  And according to Justin Watson, the Missouri State Trooper who brought Adam Leon to justice, “He made a statement that he was trying to commit suicide and he didn’t have the courage to do it himself. And his idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States, where he would be shot down.“  In these troubled times, an attempted suicide is certainly nothing surprising.  But perhaps stealing a Cessna from Canada and flying through several states in the US in an attempt to get F-16s to blow you up is.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.  There weren’t even any damages reported.  The only real loss in the whole affair was the fuel used in the Cessna, the approximately fifty grand USD per hour per F-16 for a total cost of around $500,000, and the time of everyone involved.  And hopefully now while Adam sits in the Butler County Jail he can find the help that he needs.