Student Pilot Shuts Down Airport After Breaking into Vacant Plane

An airport in Florida was temporarily shut down Thursday when a student pilot jumped a fence and broke into an empty plane sitting in a maintenance facility.

According to the Associated Press, the 26-year-old student pilot parked his car outside the Orlando Melbourne International Airport, left his car running and jumped a fence to get inside the facility.

Airport spokeswoman Lori Booker said in a statement the unidentified suspect boarded a vacant Airbus 321 American Airlines aircraft, forcing the facility to issue a temporary lockdown.

A maintenance worker at the Melbourne airport spotted him entering the plane and notified police, who found the man and took him into custody. Authorities conducted a sweep of the airport before reopening the facility.

Booker told The AP the suspect was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but had a Florida driver's license. Investigators were unsure which flight school the man attended, but he reportedly entered the United States through Canada.

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