WINGING IT

Pilot’s Drunken Flight Sparks Fighter Jet Chase and Scary Landing

The jets were scrambled when the plane flew into a nuclear power plant’s airspace.

A 24-year-old Hungarian man allegedly stole a small plane while drunk, triggering a fighter jet response before crash-landing in a sunflower field. Hungarian police said the man took the Cessna 172 from Kalocsa airport, around 90 miles south of Budapest, and flew briefly before making an emergency landing in the field near Gerjen in Tolna County. Hungarian Defense Minister Dr. Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said the aircraft entered the airspace near Paks Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s only commercial nuclear facility, causing two fighter jets to be scrambled. Despite the rough landing, authorities said the man only suffered minor injuries. He reportedly walked away from the aircraft, and, according to police, then tried to steal a car from a motorist who stopped to help him. Police arrested the man before he could flee. He was taken into custody while investigators examine whether drugs, in addition to alcohol, were involved. It’s unclear whether the man had any flying experience.