culvert , apparently in an attempt to hide it . The plane had been intercepted and tracked by U.S. military aircraft as it flew from Canada into U.S. airspace and meandered southward for several hours before landing , a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said . It landed in the town of Ellsinore , population 360 , in southern Missouri , a dispatcher with the Carter County Sheriff 's Office said . A spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command -LRB- NORAD -RRB- said the pilot flew `` erratically '' over the course of the afternoon , at time reaching 14,000 feet in altitude , then dropping as low as 3,000 feet . The Cessna departed the school in Ontario at about 3 p.m. ET and flew over Lake Superior less than half an hour later , according to NORAD officials . F-16 fighter jets intercepted the pilot near Michigan 's upper peninsula border with Wisconsin at 4:43 p.m. , and tracked the Cessna until its safe landing . The NORAD spokesman , Mike Kucharek , said military pilots who intercepted the Cessna had tried repeatedly to get the pilot 's attention and at one point , the pilot
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The pilot of a small Cessna 172 aircraft reported stolen from a Canadian flight school has been captured , authorities said . The pilot was flying a plane similar to this one -- a Cessna 172 -- before he landed in Missouri . The pilot reportedly stole a small Cessna 172 aircraft from a Canadian flight school , flew hundreds of miles across the Midwest , landed on a dirt road in Missouri late Monday and took off on foot , federal officials said . Federal , state and local authorities launched a manhunt for the pilot , who was identified by the FBI as Adam Leon , 31 , a native of Turkey who became a Canadian citizen last year , according to FBI spokesman Richard Kolko . He was formerly known as Yavuz Berke , though officials did not indicate a reason for the name change . He was taken into custody at an Ellsinore grocery story after a brief manhunt , according to Missouri state police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police . A federal law enforcement source said the pilot parked the plane under what appeared to be a bridge or