Cessna Corvalis Taken From Monroe County Airport Over The Weekend

The theft of a Cessna Corvalis from Monroe County Airport (KBMG) near Bloomington, IN sometime late Saturday or early Sunday resembles a string of airplane thefts in which Colton Harris-Moore is a suspect. The fully-fueled airplane was taken from a locked hangar and was later found nose down in the surf in shallow waters off the coast of the Bahamas.

File Photo

The range of the Corvalis is about 1,200 miles, which would make the trip possible on a single tank of fuel. Bloomington is about 50 miles south in Indianapolis.

The theft has the same MO as a string of airplane and other thefts that have authorities looking for Moore-Harris. The 19-year-old walked out of a juvenile facility in Washington state in 2008, and is a suspect in a string of airplane, car, and boat thefts since that time. He is accused of stealing several aircraft, flying them despite having no formal pilot training, and landing well enough to be able to walk away.

Television station WTHR in Indianapolis and the Herald of Everett, Washington report that a stolen out-of-state car was found by Monroe County sheriff's deputies near the airport. Airport manager Bruce Payton told the Bloomington Herald-Times that the airport is surrounded by a 10-foot high fence topped with barbed wire with locked gates, and that the airplane was locked in a hangar. The tower at KBMG is not staffed between 2130 and 0630 local time, so there would be no record of the airplane's departure and few people at the airport.

Bloomington, IN Sectional

While the Monroe County sheriff told the Herald-Times that while there is no direct evidence linking Harris-Moore to the theft, it certainly fits the pattern of the crimes in which he is a suspect.

The Bahamian government is investigating the incident. The exact location of the crash has not been identified.

FMI: www.bahamas.gov.bs