CAA: GA News, "Idaho man steals airplane, drops pipe bomb on highway"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, October 15, 2001

Idaho man steals airplane, drops pipe bomb on highway
The Associated Press


PRESTON, Idaho - An Idaho man stole a single-engine airplane, flew it low
enough to snap several power lines and dropped a homemade pipe bomb that
didn't explode, police said Monday.

Raymond Montgomery was arrested when he landed across the Utah state line,
said K.G. Fonnesbeck, a lieutenant with the Bannock County Sheriff's
Department in Idaho. No one was injured. He was not immediately charged.

The Champion 7GC was stolen from an airport in Preston, Idaho, said Norma
Harris, whose husband owns the plane.

At times it flew only about 10 feet above the ground, breaking power lines
and causing at least three poles to fall, Fonnesbeck said. The pipe bomb
landed on Interstate 15, which runs north from Utah into Idaho, Fonnesbeck
said.

The plane landed safely at a small runway on the property of Thiokol Corp.,
an aerospace company in Utah. The pilot flew about 50 miles.

Two F-16s were sent to intercept the plane, but it landed before the
fighters arrived, said Michael Fergus, a Federal Aviation Administration
spokesman.

Montgomery stole and crashed a different airplane in 1988, said Police Chief
Scott Shaw in Preston, Idaho. The pilot had some flying experience and prior
"alcohol offenses," Fonnesbeck said.

Police found Montgomery's car at the Preston airport. It was filled with
canisters of aviation fuel and tools, Shaw said.

"We're not really sure what his mental status might be," said FBI spokesman
Kevin Eaton. He said the U.S. attorney's office in Idaho is pursuing charges
against Montgomery.

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