Crash threat over Mississippi skies ends with pilot’s arrest

A stolen airplane rests in a field of soybeans after crash-landing near Ripley, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. Authorities say a man who stole a plane and flew it over Mississippi after threatening to crash it into a Walmart store faces charges of grand larceny and terroristic threats. Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said Cory Wayne Patterson didn't have a pilot's license but had some flight instruction and was an employee of Tupelo Aviation.(AP Photo/Nikki Boertman) A stolen airplane rests in a field of soybeans after crash-landing near Ripley, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. Authorities say a man who stole a plane and flew it over Mississippi after threatening to crash it into a Walmart store faces charges of grand larceny and terroristic threats. Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said Cory Wayne Patterson didn't have a pilot's license but had some flight instruction and was an employee of Tupelo Aviation.(AP Photo/Nikki Boertman)

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and NIKKI BOERTMAN / Associated Press September 4, 2022 5 min read

RIPLEY, Miss. (AP) — An airport worker who knew how to take off but not land stole a small airplane Saturday and threatened to crash it into a Walmart, circling for five hours over unnerved Mississippians before ending the flight safely in a soybean field where police arrested him.

Cory Wayne Patterson, 29, was uninjured after the rough landing shortly after posting a goodbye message to his parents and sister on Facebook, authorities said at a news conference. The message said he “never actually wanted to hurt anyone.”

After an anxious morning of watching the plane’s meandering path overhead, Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan called the resolution “the best case scenario.”

No one was injured.

Patterson was employed fueling planes at the Tupelo Regional Airport, giving him access to the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air C90A, police Chief John Quaka said.