Man who stole plane put self, others in danger

<p>The man accused of stealing an airplane from a Florida airport and flying it 350 miles to Georgia put himself and his five passengers and a lot of danger, aviation experts said.</p><p>Daniel Andrew Wolcott, 22, of Buford was charged with felony theft by receiving and five misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct for taking the $7 million 10-passenger plane in what police called a joy ride.</p><p>"I don't think the five passengers on that plane had any idea how much danger they were in," said Steve Haslup, a flight instructor who teaches at Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field where the Cessna Citation VII landed late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. "It's remarkable that no one was hurt."</p><p>FAA officials said the plane's transponder was turned off or disabled so that air traffic controllers could not easily track it on radar as it approached Atlanta air space, among the world's busiest. The pilot did not file a flight plan or talk to air traffic controllers and the plane likely flew through low clouds and fog as it approached for landing.</p><p>The arrest warrant also accuses Wolcott of endangering the safety of the five passengers. It further says Wolcott flew the jet knowing that the fuel level was too low and that he "disconnected cockpit equipment to track (the) plane in case of emergency."</p><p>The passengers, named in Wolcott's warrant were identified as: Nathaniel Lewis Baker, Michael Coffey, James Corbett, Ian Andrew Smith and Mark Zwak. They told police they did not know the plane was stolen.</p><p>Wolcott is a commercial pilot with multiengine and instrument ratings and reportedly is licensed to fly a Westwind corporate jet. But he is not rated to fly a Citation, which usually requires two pilots.</p><p>"The plane has a reputation of being easy to fly from a stick-and-rudder standpoint," Haslup said. "But a pilot has to have detailed knowledge of the systems on the aircraft. He has to know what to do when the electric or hydraulic systems fail and how to handle a wide variety of emergencies. Everything on that airplane had to work perfectly on that flight, and apparently it did."</p><p>The plane is one of nine aircraft owned by Pinnacle Air Jet Charter of Springdale, Ark. Company officials flew it out of Gwinnett County on Thursday.</p><p>John George, marketing director at Pinnacle, said no one at the company knew Wolcott. He also said he had no idea why their plane was targeted.</p><p>"It appears to be a random act," George said.</p><p>Wolcott was the pilot of a single-engine Cessna trainer that struck a flock of geese over Alabama on May 3, 2003.</p><p>According to an FAA report, Wolcott prepared to land the plane in an open field but balked at the last moment as the propeller-driven plane neared a line of trees.</p><p>"The aircraft touched down and while still at a high rate of speed was approaching a tree line," the report said. "The pilot believed that he would not get the aircraft stopped in time, so he initiated a go around, applied full throttle and rolled the aircraft to the left to make an opening between trees at which time the left wing impacted a tree approximately 40 feet high."</p><p>The airplane came to rest upside down beyond the tree line. A National Guard helicopter that was in the area flew Wolcott to a hospital with minor injuries.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdd268)</p>

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