Stolen small plane circles Vancouver airport as controllers ground flights and pilots abort landings
The Cessna 172 took off from Victoria International Airport, where it is used for flight training, and flew north about 40 miles to Vancouver and started circling.
'We do have an aircraft that has been hijacked and is in the vicinity of the airport,' a tower controller warned other planes in a recording from the website LiveATC.net. 'Just in case anything starts heading toward your you have the ability to move at your discretion.'
People on the ground watched the plane dip low and circle as air traffic controllers moved other aircraft out of the way.
One of those planes was a WestJet Airlines Boeing 737 which was instructed to abort its landing due to the 'rogue 172' crossing about four miles in front of them.
'He was doing quite a radical turn at low altitude,' witness Paul Heeney, told CNN newsgathering partner CBC. 'I went wow, I wonder if he is in trouble.'
The stolen plane eventually landed safely at Vancouver International and was immediately surrounded by police. The suspect, who was not identified by authorities, was the only person inside and was arrested.
'A security incident involving a small private aircraft in the airspace near YVR prompted a temporary ground stop for arriving aircraft,' the airport said in a statement. Planes were stopped from arriving for 39 minutes and nine planes were diverted to other airports.
Police and the airport did not provide any motive or other explanation as to why the plane was stolen.
CNN's Paula Newton contributed to this report.
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