A California man has a mystery on his hands. Who keeps taking his plane?
Jason Hong calls his 1958 Cessna Skyhawk his “old treasure” and was thinking about his plane during his 75th birthday celebration, so he decided to pay a visit to his plane, The Los Angeles Times reported.
But when he got to the hangar where he stores his Cessna, it was gone.
“I got confused,” he told the newspaper. “I thought, ‘Did I park it somewhere else? Did the airport manager move it?’ But I looked all over.”
Eventually, it was found at Brackett Field Airport, not the Corona Municipal Airport, where the plane was typically kept.
The two airports are about 23 miles apart, People magazine reported.
Apparently, someone has flown the Skyhawk at least twice across Southern California.
When he got to Brackett Field Airport, he found cigarette butts and garbage in the cockpit. He pulled the battery from the plane, keeping anyone from flying it until he could get back and give his plane a once-over and clean it.
But when he arrived on Aug. 3, the plane was once again gone.
He again called the police, telling them that it had been taken. And eventually, law enforcement in another city called him, saying that his plane was sitting at another airport. When Hong arrived at the San Gabriel Valley Airport, there was a battery in the Skyhawk.
Brackett and San Gabriel are about 18 miles apart, according to People.
“This plane just keeps disappearing out of the blue,” Corona Police Department Sgt. Robert Montanez told the Times. “It’s just weird.”
Police have no idea who keeps taking Hong’s plane.
“There’s no camera video, there’s no real leads as to who stole the plane,” Montanez said.
Hong has tracked the flights his plane has been on using Flight Aware, but he is still no closer to finding out who took his “old treasure.” One thing he does know, whoever it is knows what they’re doing, since they’ve been able to land the plane several times.
“Landing is not easy, so they’re trained,” Hong told the Times. They also must know, according to Hong, the mechanics of a plane, since they had to replace the battery.
“Someone breaks into your house, they’re looking for jewelry or cash right?” he said. “But in this case, what’s the purpose? It’s like someone breaks my window, and then they put a new one up.”
A regular visitor to the San Gabriel Valley Airport told Hong that they saw a woman flying and sitting in the plane several times and thought it was odd that she was just in the cockpit during the day instead of sitting in air conditioning in the airport lounge, the Times reported.
The plane remained chained at San Gabriel Valley Airport, adding that he’s not comfortable flying it until it is inspected.
Staff told him that they would have 24-hour surveillance on the plane to make sure no one took it again, KCAL reported.
© 2025 Cox Media Group
Sign Up
