FULLERTON : Police Searching for Pilot of Stolen Plane

Police continued the search Monday for a pilot who stole a $150,000 twin-engine Cessna from Van Nuys Airport over the weekend and crash-landed it at Fullerton Municipal Airport.

A blond man about 40 years old walked away from the damaged craft about 4:30 a.m. Saturday and was taken to the closed control tower by the overnight security guard, Fullerton Police Sgt. Mike Maynard said. The man fled after the guard left him alone to make a phone call.

The guard did not know that the plane had been stolen, Maynard said. The Pacific Palisades owner of the eight-passenger plane reported it missing Friday.

Detectives from the Fullerton and Los Angeles police departments are investigating the theft, but Maynard said it will be difficult to find the man without additional clues.

The plane apparently crashed because the wing landing gears were only about a third of the way down when the plane hit the runway, Maynard said. The careening plane smashed three runway lights and knocked down a directional light box. The crash damaged the landing gear and the left wing, and bent the left propeller, he said.

A motive for the theft has not been determined, Maynard said. Investigators “thought maybe (the plane) was being used for drug smuggling, but it was empty,” he said.