Crash Near Vegas Kills Stolen Plane’s Pilot
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A twin-engine plane used for tours of the Grand Canyon was stolen from the North Las Vegas Airport on Wednesday, and the pilot was killed when the plane crashed.
The name of the pilot was not immediately released. No one else was in the twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain, found upside down in a desert area on the northwest side of the city.
Sgt. Ronald Kozak said police received a report from the airport early Wednesday that the plane, which Las Vegas Airlines owned, had been “stolen or inappropriately taken.”
A Las Vegas Metro Police helicopter crew sighted the wreckage two hours later.
“From what I understand there was very little fuel in the plane so I would say he was in the air less than an hour,” Kozak said.
North Las Vegas Police spokeswoman Shirley Fallon said the person suspected of taking the plane was authorized to taxi planes but not to fly the aircraft.
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