There Are No Clear Answers Why A 15 Year Old Student Pilot Steals A Plane And Crashes Into Bank America

January 5, 2002, at about 5 PM, a 15 year old boy, Charles J. Bishop of Palm Harbor, Florida stole a Cessn 172 out of Albert Whitted Municipal Airport which is just outside of St. Petersburg, Florida. "We believe he departed without anyone's knowledge, or their giving him the OK to leave," said Pinellas County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Greg Tita.

As the plane departed the airport air-traffic control contacted and alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. A Cost Guard helicopter was was dispatched and was able to intercept the Cessna. The 15 year old was signaled by the cost Gaurd to land the Cessna at an airport just south of Tampa. However, the 15 year old fail to land instead the Cessna crashed into a 41 story building in downtown Tampa. A witnesses reported the aircraft appeared to have struck the building without the youth try to avoid the building.

The unauthorized takeoff  by this 15 year old prompted authorities to scramble two F-15 jets. The jets where based out of Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami, Florida. The jets arrived moments after the 15 year old crashed. Tampa and St. Petersburg airports temporarily suspended operations following the incident. It was reported that the 15 year youth had been taking flying lesions for two years. He was at the airport with his mother and grandmother performing a pre-flight check when he got into the plane and took off.