A thief stole a small plane and then survived making a crash landing on a beach, with stunning photographs showing her sticking her nose in the sand.
Witnesses reported seeing the small plane land “near or on a beach” in Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles from San Francisco, around 5 p.m. Thursday, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said.
“A thorough search revealed a small plane in the sand just south of Poplar Beach,” the department said.
“The plane was found intact and unoccupied,” the sheriff’s office added, with images showing the plane with its striped wings tilted forward and its tail up.
Witnesses reported seeing a man “landing and then walking away from the plane.”
Investigators then learned that “the plane had been stolen from an airport in Palo Alto,” about 40 miles to the east.
The sheriff’s office said the person who walked away was identified as Luiz Gustavo Aires, 50, of Miami, Florida. It was not immediately clear how he was identified or what he was doing in the area.
A single-engine plane was found abandoned on a beach near Half Moon Bay, California, on Thursday. Officers with the San Mateo Police Department arrested Luis Aires, 50, of Miami, on charges of stealing an airplane. ABC
Aires was booked into the Redwood City jail on charges of stealing an airplane.
The red and white American Champion Aircraft single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft is owned by a limited liability company based in San Mateo, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
As of Friday morning, the plane was still on the beach, said sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Javier Acosta told The Post.
Getting it off the beach surrounded by cliffs “is going to be a challenge,” he said.
The plane had been stolen from the Palo Alto airport before being abandoned 24 miles away. C.B.S.
The spokesman declined to say whether Aires made any statements at the time of his arrest that could explain the strange incident.
“I’ve been doing this for about 20 years and it’s the first time for me,” Acosta said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn