For hours late Monday, U.S. fighter planes under the direction of the North American Defense Command in Colorado Springs tailed a stolen Canadian aircraft before it landed in southern Missouri.
For Missouri State Patrol Trooper Justin Watson, the arrest he made at a country convenience store 3 miles west of Ellsinore, Mo., was one of the easiest of his career.
Watson and another trooper walked into the store, and sitting in a booth, sipping on a Gatorade, was Adam Dylan Leon, who was known as Yazuz Berk in his native Turkey.
“He looked at us and said, ‘I’m the person you are looking for,’ ” said Watson.
As he greeted the troopers, Leon had a big smile on his face, obviously relieved that authorities had found him, said Watson.
Watson said that Leon, 31, told him he had wanted to commit suicide — in a variation of “suicide by cop.” Leon’s intention, said Watson, was suicide by F-16.
“He stated he had personal problems and didn’t have the courage to end it himself. He wanted to fly into the United States and get shot down,” said Watson.
“He seemed relieved it ended as well as it did. He was very polite. He had a ready smile. I’d deal with this kind of guy any day of the week,” said the veteran Missouri trooper.
Although Leon was described today by the trooper and people in Canada as being extremely personable and polite, his theft of a Cessna at the Canadian aviation school he was attending in Thunder Bay, Ontario, alarmed both Canadian and U.S. authorities.
According to NORAD, based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, it initially scrambled an F-16 from the Minnesota Air National Guard out of Duluth after the Cessna entered U.S. airspace headed south over Lake Superior.
NORAD said Canadian authorities reported that the aircraft was stolen, and NORAD tracked it entering U.S. airspace at 2:23 p.m.
As the plane headed deeper into the U.S., NORAD scrambled F-16 fighters from both the Wisconsin Air National Guard and the Louisiana Air National Guard.
Norman Lenburg, spokesman for the Wisconsin Air National Guard, said that two F-16s based in Madison were scrambled. As the Cessna neared Madison, the state Capitol there was evacuated.
“It was a precautionary measure,” said Lenburg. “We had no idea what the pilot’s intentions were. And the state Capitol is a pretty easy landmark.”
NORAD officials said the pilot of the civilian plane acknowledged the fighters but was unresponsive to specific nonverbal commands.
Watson said Leon told him that as he flew over the United States, F-16s were all around him.
“He stated he knew they’d show up eventually. He said they shot some flares around him. He gave absolutely no indication of fear,” said the trooper.
NORAD said that U.S. Customs Border Protection aircraft also intercepted the Cessna but that the F-16s followed the aircraft until it landed in an area 23 miles northwest of Poplar Bluff, Mo., at 7:45 p.m.
Sgt. Marty Elmore, spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said Leon landed near the intersection of Missouri Route FF and U.S. 60, about 6 miles west of Ellsinore, a town of 400 people, and then Leon apparently hitchhiked to the convenience store about 3 miles away.
“He walked in and asked to use the restroom and tried to buy some Gatorade and beef jerky,” said Elmore. “He didn’t have enough money for both and just bought the Gatorade.”
Bethanie Foster, media coordinator for Confederation College in Thunder Bay, said that Leon took the plane at about 12:55 p.m. from the school of aviation, headquartered at the community college.
She said that aviation students had finished for the day and that the plane had been tied down and fueled when Leon stole it.
Foster said that within five minutes, school officials had notified police that Leon, an immigrant to Canada from Turkey, had taken the plane.
Foster said that Leon had initially enrolled at the aviation school in 2006 but failed some of his aviation courses. He reapplied in the fall of 2008 and was accepted, she said. He was living in Thunder Bay, a city of 110,000 people.
Foster added that there was no indication Leon was upset or planning to steal an aircraft.
“He was personable and polite,” she said of Leon.
Patricia Lang, president of Confederation College, said Leon was a naturalized Canadian citizen and had changed his name from Yazuz Berk once in Canada.
Lang said he was well-known to the staff of the aviation school and was considered polite. He had completed his first solo flight and all the training courses for his first cross-country flight, which he had yet to take, she said.
“We were shocked and surprised and relieved he landed the plane safely,” said Lang.
Watson said said that Leon knew he had messed up and owned up to his mistake.
“He was pretty sure he was going to spend some time in jail,” said the Missouri trooper.
Lt. Cmdr. Gary Ross, NORAD spokesman at Peterson Air Base, said NORAD’s mission — in close cooperation with various homeland defense, security and law-enforcement agencies — is to prevent air attacks against both the United States and Canada by unidentified or unauthorized aircraft, such as the Cessna.
NORAD will monitor and shadow such aircraft and take actions such as directing the pilot to land, forcing the aircraft to land if orders are ignored and, in a worst-case scenario, destroying the plane, said Ross.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
