Fourteen-Year Old Boys Walk Away With Minor Injuries

Two 14-year-old boys in California appear to be the latest additions to the growing horde of teenagers who think it's really cool to steal an airplane. The boys were in jail Monday after stealing a Mooney M20 from Big Bear City Airport (L35) and taking it for a joyride over Joshua Tree National Park Sunday night.

The ride ended as a real bummer, however, after the teens crashed the aircraft in one of the park's valleys. Fortunately, it was an area of the park not covered by sharp, rocky terrain -- and the two walked away with only minor injuries.

"The area where it landed was at the bottom of the valley where there's sandy soil," Joe Zarki with Joshua Tree National Park told Palm Springs television station KESQ. "So, when the plane hit it, it skidded. There was damage to the propeller and landing gear, of course. It was lucky it landed in a fairly sandy area, as opposed to some of the more rocky terrain we have here."

The aircraft was not completely destroyed, Zarki added. The two boys are now in a Riverside County jail, awaiting charges.

After an auspicious 2005, this year is already shaping up to be a bad one for general aviation on the joyriding-teenager front. Already this year Aero-News has reported on the case of Nathan Wayne Frost, who stole a Piper Cherokee and buzzed his girlfriend's house the night of February 1.

Frost -- who had previous pilot training -- was able to fly and land the airplane without incident, or damage. He recently bargained part of sentence down by pleading guilty to stealing the plane.

Meanwhile, the staff of Aero-News -- comfortably at peace with our inner curmudgeons -- find ourselves in the awkward position of remembering fondly the days when it was cool enough to steal a car...

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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: UNK        Make/Model: MO20      Description: M20, M20A/B/C/D/E/F/G/J/L/R/S, M20K/M (T
  Date: 02/26/2006     Time: 0120

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
  City: RIVERSIDE   State: CA   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  A MOONEY MO20 ACFT, REGISTRATION UNKNOWN, REPORTEDLY WAS STOLEN AND CRASHED
  LANDED IN JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD SUSTAINED
  MINOR INJURIES AND WERE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES, 
  RIVERSIDE, CA

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   2     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: RIVERSIDE, CA  (WP21)                 Entry date: 02/27/2006

FMI: www.faa.gov