Crash threat over Mississippi skies ends with pilot’s arrest

The pilot was taken into custody after the plane landed safely in a field (WCBI-TV via AP)

An airport worker has been arrested after allegedly stealing a small plane, circling for hours over Mississippi and threatening to crash into a Walmart store before landing safely in a soybean field.

Cory Wayne Patterson, 29, who is said to have known how to take off, but not land, was uninjured after the rough landing shortly after posting a goodbye message to his parents and sister on Facebook, authorities said at a news conference.