In a mystery that sounds like something straight out of a quirky Hollywood heist film, 75-year-old California resident Jason Hong has been left baffled after his cherished 1958 Cessna Skyhawk was not only stolen—twice—but also repaired and returned by an unknown pilot.
Unlike the usual motives behind theft, where valuables are stolen and sold for profit, this case has police scratching their heads and aviation enthusiasts raising their eyebrows. Whoever is behind the repeated plane thefts seems less like a criminal and more like an oddly considerate aviation phantom, leaving behind a trail of questions but no solid answers.
First Disappearance – The Birthday Surprise Nobody Wants
Jason Hong, who doesn’t fly much anymore but still deeply cherishes his old Cessna Skyhawk, visited Corona Municipal Airport on July 27—his birthday—expecting to see his plane resting in its hangar. Instead, he was greeted with a shock: the aircraft was missing. At first, Hong thought it might have been moved by the airport manager or perhaps parked somewhere else, but after searching the area thoroughly, he realized it was gone.
This 1958 Cessna Skyhawk is no ordinary possession for Hong—it’s an “old treasure,” a piece of his personal history. Losing it on his birthday made the disappearance even more surreal. After asking around, Jason Hong learned something unexpected: on at least two occasions, an unidentified pilot had been seen flying the plane across Southern California. This was no amateur joyride—the flights were controlled, confident, and well-executed, hinting that the pilot had significant flight training.
When Hong reported the plane missing to the police, it became clear just how unusual this case was. Plane theft is extremely rare, so much so that Corona Police had to give Hong stolen car paperwork to complete the report. Still, luck was on his side: two days later, the La Verne Police Department informed him that his Cessna Skyhawk had been found at Brackett Field Airport, about 25 miles northeast of where it had been taken.
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When Hong reached the airport, he found his aircraft in surprisingly good condition. Aside from some garbage and cigarette butts left in the cockpit, there was no visible damage.
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It was almost as if someone had simply borrowed it for a trip and returned it, minus the courtesy of asking first. Determined to prevent another theft, Hong removed the plane’s battery and planned to return the following weekend to clean it and check for any hidden damage.
Second Disappearance – A More Perplexing Return
If the first theft felt like a strange fluke, the second disappearance was outright bizarre. On August 3, Hong returned to the airport to work on his plane—only to find that it had been stolen again. His efforts to secure it had failed in the most puzzling way imaginable.
Soon after reporting it missing, Hong received another call—this time from the El Monte Police Department. His Cessna Skyhawk had been located at San Gabriel Valley Airport, about 18 miles west of Brackett Field. When Hong inspected it, he found an astonishing detail: the battery he had removed had been replaced. The mystery pilot hadn’t just taken the plane; they had invested time, money, and skill into making it fly again.
Replacing a plane battery isn’t like swapping out AA batteries in a remote control. It requires tools, mechanical knowledge, and aviation expertise. Whoever this person was, they clearly had both the skill to fly and the ability to maintain an aircraft. To make things even stranger, Hong found a new headset in the cockpit—another expense the mystery aviator seemed to have taken upon themselves. Between the new battery, tools, and accessories, this thief was spending hundreds of dollars, seemingly for the sheer joy of flying someone else’s plane.
To Jason Hong, it was baffling. “Someone breaks into your house, they’re looking for jewelry or cash, right?” he told the Los Angeles Times. “But in this case, what’s the purpose? It’s like someone breaks my window, and then they put a new one up.”
Flight tracking records from Flight Aware revealed that on Hong’s 75th birthday, the pilot flew his plane twice—once at 1:30 a.m. and again later that day. The unusual flight times and the confident handling of the aircraft reinforced Hong’s belief that the person at the controls was highly trained.
The Mystery Deepens – Clues, Suspicions, and Unanswered Questions
Despite the unusual nature of the thefts, investigators have few leads. Corona Police Sergeant Robert Montanez admitted, “The plane keeps disappearing out of the blue.” The airports where the plane was recovered lacked surveillance footage that could have identified the pilot, and there was no record of anyone suspicious entering the hangars.
The closest thing to a lead came from another pilot at the San Gabriel Valley Airport, who reported seeing a woman in her 40s or 50s sitting in Hong’s plane on multiple occasions. She stood out because she would remain inside the hot cockpit instead of relaxing in the air-conditioned lounge. Whether this woman is the mysterious pilot, an accomplice, or merely someone with a curious interest in the plane remains unclear.
Hong has now taken additional security measures, chaining up the aircraft at San Gabriel Valley Airport and refraining from flying it until a thorough inspection is complete. Although his plane appears safe for now, the strange saga has left him—and the police—utterly perplexed.
This isn’t a case of theft for profit, nor does it seem to be an act of vandalism. Instead, it’s almost as though someone has taken a personal interest in keeping this old Cessna Skyhawk in the air, treating it like a borrowed toy rather than stolen property. The fact that they’ve invested in repairs and equipment rather than stripping it for parts is a twist that defies conventional criminal logic.
Jason Hong’s story also highlights the quirks of general aviation security. While airports have layers of safety measures for commercial flights, smaller municipal airports often rely on more basic safeguards—gates, chains, and occasional patrols. In this case, those measures weren’t enough to stop a determined and resourceful individual from taking to the skies.
As of now, the case remains unsolved. For Jason Hong, each unanswered question adds to the intrigue—and frustration. Who is this mystery pilot? Why target his plane in particular? And perhaps most puzzling of all, what motivates someone to not only steal an aircraft but also spend money and effort improving it before returning it?
Until there’s a breakthrough, this story stands as one of the strangest aviation mysteries in recent memory—a rare mix of crime, kindness, and curiosity, all unfolding thousands of feet above the ground.