A 23-year-old pilot stole a plane from a Dallas-area flight school — then made an ominous call saying he would not be listening “to y’all’s instructions” before he crashed and died.
The pilot, identified as Logan Timothy James of Stokesdale, North Carolina, stole the Cessna 172 Skyhawk from ATP Flight School at Addison Airport about 7 p.m. Wednesday, KTVT reported, citing the Texas Department of Public Safety.
James was cleared to perform touch-and-go maneuvers in the pattern around the airport but after the first landing and takeoff he made a chilling call.
“I’m climbing up through the clouds and then just gonna head outside of everything,” he said, according to audio posted by VasAviation.
“About right now you’ll probably realize that I’m not gonna listen to y’all’s instructions and I’m just heading to East Texas.”
James calmly tells the air-traffic controller that he was going to “unkey” the microphone and pull the communication circuit breakers.