A pilot who allegedly stole a civilian plane in Italy on Wednesday was carrying solely socks when a French military jet pressured him to land.

The aircraft was disrupting air site visitors over Good, based on a tweet from the French Air and House Pressure. This man had flown by way of a number of no-fly zones, together with airspace over the French naval base of Toulon. He had not established radio contact or a flight plan and didn't reply to radio calls, based on a number of French information shops.

A French Mirage 2000 fighter jet intercepted the shoeless pilot and escorted him to land on the Aix-Les-Milles airfield, between Good and Marseille. A Fennec helicopter additionally adopted. The truth is, the French Air and House Pressure mentioned in 2021 they reported 170 "irregular conditions" that required intervention from fighter jets or helicopters.

Shoeless pilot stole plane
A French Mirage 2000 fighter jet intercepted the shoeless pilot and escorted him to land on the Aix-Les-Milles airfield, between Good and Marseille. Right here, a Mirage 2000 jet takes off on March 13, 2022. SEBASTIEN BOZON / Contributor/AFP

Alongside together with his lacking footwear, the person was with out authorized paperwork. He was in his 30s and mentioned he initially got here from Slovakia, native shops reported. Nationwide police took him into custody upon touchdown.

Plane thefts occur within the U.S., too.

Newsweek beforehand reported that a man tried to steal a business plane in Arkansas to fly to a rap live performance in Chicago in January 2019.

In 2018, two teenage boys stole a small plane and flew it round Utah earlier than they had been arrested.

That very same yr, an Alaska Airways worker stole a aircraft and did stunts earlier than crashing it into an island close to Seattle.

However how usually do pilots fly with out footwear?

In a pilot's information to enhancing possibilities of survival throughout an aviation accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mentioned that clothes is "your major shelter in a survival state of affairs." The information added that "closed toe footwear" had been safer than sandals and trousers had been higher than shorts or skirts. Dressing in layers of cotton or wool clothes, moderately than synthetics, was additionally suggested for a pilot to regulate to altering circumstances. The FAA didn't point out the potential of going with out footwear in any respect.

Pilots for Trans Maldivian Airways within the Maldives, nevertheless, do benefit from the luxurious of flying with out footwear, based on CNN Journey. This seaplane operator has a fleet of 57 plane and carries passengers to dozens of locations on the Indian Ocean islands.

A captain for the airline mentioned that pilots wore a uniform from the waist up, however shorts and sandals beneath—and the sandals had been elective.

"We name ourselves 'barefoot pilots' as a result of once we're within the airplane we really kick our sandals off and fly barefoot on the pedals," Captain Andrew Farr instructed CNN Journey in 2019.

Newsweek reached out to the French Air and House Pressure however didn't hear again in time for publication.