Pilot flying over Mississippi didn't have license; faces terrorist threats charges

A man who stole a plane and flew it over northern Mississippi after threatening to crash it into a Walmart faces charges of grand larceny and terroristic threats, authorities said Saturday. Tupelo Police Chief John Quaka said at a news conference that Cory Wayne Patterson stole a Beechcraft King Air C90A from the Tupelo Regional Airport, took off early Saturday, called 911 and then threatened to crash the aircraft.

Patterson didn't have a pilot's license but had some flight instruction and worked at Tupelo Aviation fueling aircraft, which gave him access to planes. Negotiators spoke to Patterson and convinced him not to carry out the threat and to land at the airport. Patterson did not have the experience to land and another pilot attempted to coach him through it. A negotiator re-established contact, and the plane landed safely. Video from a witness shot near Ripley, Mississippi, shows a plane after it landed in a soybean field.