Joyride In 172 With Two Pax Ends In Jail, Recriminations

It was going to happen sooner or later, we knew that; but as it happens, it happened sooner. A student pilot stole a Cessna 172 from a GA airport in Danbury, Connecticut and wandered lost around Connecticut and upstate New York before landing on a darkened taxiway at Westchester County Airport, which was closed at the time due to construction work.

The plane reported landed there, then, because the pilot was lost and out of fuel. But that wasn't the full extent of his problems, either.

Officers of the Westchester Department of Public Safety responding to the airplane saw the door swing open -- and beer cans come rolling out. Then, they say, Phillipe Patricio, 20, of Bethel, CT, came rolling out, drunk and disorderly. He was described as "belligerent and noncompliant" by County authorities quoted in the New York Times.

Patricio was taken into custody by force, and is charged with two felonies: criminal possession of stolen property and reckless endangerment, and misdemeanors including resisting arrest. He escaped a DUI charge on a technicality, but the Westchester County district attorney is still looking for other charges.

The felonies have a maximum penalty of over 20 years in prison if served consecutively.

The names of his two passengers were not revealed by authorities -- they were both only 16 years old.

Phillippe Barbosa Patricio has a student pilot certificate and third class medical issued in August, 2002. The pilot certificate lists his home as Merrimac St in Danbury, not Bethel as reported currently. It's a fair bet that the FAA will be wanting to do something about this certificate.

The incident has brought criticism of GA security back to the forefront again. Westchester County officials point out that their field, one of the closest General Aviation relievers to NTC, requires that airplanes be not only locked but also secured by wheel boots. The county executive called on the Federal government to provide more airport-security money, and the district attorney blamed Westchester's "epidemic of teenage drinking" -- no matter that Patricio isn't teenage and didn't do his drinking in Westchester. 

There is some dispute about the amount of instruction that Patricio had. News stories are saying he took seven lessons from Arrow Air, the FBO from which the plane was stolen; Arrow told the Times that they have records of only one lesson. They also have something else: two of two sets of keys to the plane. With none of the "legit" keys missing, how Patricio got a key is unexplained at this time, but older Cessnas had a very few possible key cuts -- for many years, four key cuts would open all Cessna aircraft.

However many lessons Patricio has had so far, he's apparently got another one (or more) on the way.

When Cessna christened its then-new tricycle gear "Land-o-Matic" in the 1950s, the company was trying to stress how easy Cessnas are to fly. That very ease of use has prevented a number of plane thieves from becoming one with the terrain lately. But it doesn't keep them out of jail.

Just ask Phillippe Patricio. When he gets out, if convicted. And if that's the case, he won't see a clear blue sky form quite some time.

FMI: www.faa.gov