When a Marine Mechanic Stole an A-4 Skyhawk

I vaguely remember hearing about this when it happened. I thought he had gotten into bigger trouble that he apparently did. The story implies that he was an A-4 maintainer at the time. If true, he should have been able to select an "up" jet to borrow, rather than the "down" one he flew. It was a dumb move for sure, but part of me is glad they didn't stick him under the jail for 20 years...

P.S. Fixed the link in the original post. It's to a more recent story.
 
Interesting story. Kind of a happy ending anyway.

I vaguely remember two incidents in the late sixties in Germany. One non aviation troop tried to fly an H-13 (I think) and piled it up. He survived to go to the stockade.
Another was an USAF crew chief who tried to fly a C-130 home to the states. He had some problems at home and couldn't get leave. Bird was lost over the Atlantic I think.

Any others come to mind?
 
I remember a film they showed us in a safety meeting, probably around 1964. A crew chief got po'd at his line chief and took off in a T-33. Didn't get far as he crashed soon after. Spent his jail time 6 feet under
 
This thread reminds me of a couple stories going around when I was in the Army in the seventies.


One was a guy who took a Chinook, crashed and died. The story hinted it was a suicide.


The second was a crewchief that took a Huey for a ride and survived. That story suggested he was trying to get into flight school and thought this "audition" would get him a slot. I doubt it helped.


It's kind of easy to see how this might happen in the Army - when I was a crewchief many pilots I flew with got a kick out of trying to teach me to fly. I got stick time in AH-1s, UH-1s, and OH-58s. The Huey was for me the hardest to manage by far. The cyclic was like a wet noodle and it had this lag in the controls that required the pilot to be thinking way ahead of the aircraft; something a noob like me couldn't get the hang of.
 
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