HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KRON) — Why did a homeless man allegedly steal a private plane in Palo Alto, fly it over a coastal mountain range, and land on a sandy beach in Half Moon Bay? On Wednesday, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office revealed a motive behind the bizarre crime.
Luiz Gustavo Aires, 50, told investigators he wanted to “show the government that airports lack proper security,” the DA’s Office wrote.
When Aires made his first court appearance for an arraignment on Tuesday, he told the judge that his real name is “Sunrock.”
Aires, aka “Sunrock,” slipped through a gap in Palo Alto Airport’s perimeter fence on February 8. The metal fence appeared to have been cut open by someone .
Aires was able to start the 1960s American Champion plane’s single engine without a key and takeoff, prosecutors said. After going on a high-flying joy ride, he chose a long sandy beach as a landing strip. Videos shot by witnesses show the plane making a relatively smooth landing between Poplar and Redondo beaches.