Teens Accused of Joy Riding in Stolen Plane on Thanksgiving

While most people were spending time with family on Thanksgiving Day, a pair of teens were arrested in Utah after going for a joy ride in a stolen plane.

According to the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office, the two boys, ages 14 and 15, were taken into custody near Vernal Regional Airport in northeastern Utah after stealing a “fixed-wing, single engine light sport aircraft” from a private airstrip.

The plane was spotted flying very low along US-40 near Gusher, Uintah County before eventually landing without incident.

The Sheriff’s Office believes the boys left a group home on the Wasatch Front earlier in the week and stayed with friends in the Jensen area before finding a tractor and using it to drive to the airstrip.

Investigators said the teens mentioned flying back towards the Wasatch Front but ultimately decided to return to Vernal Regional Airport. Located just west of the Utah-Colorado border, the airport is approximately a three-hour drive east of Salt Lake City.

The teens are currently being held at a local youth detention center on multiple charges. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, according to authorities.

2 teens arrested for stealing plane and flying it around Utah https://t.co/7AboKrSbY2 pic.twitter.com/rW7F6TdMFK

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 24, 2018

The scary incident comes less than four months after a suicidal Horizon Air employee crashed a Bombardier Q400 following an unauthorized takeoff from Seattle.