STUART, Fla. — Martin County sheriff's deputies on Monday arrested a flight school student after they said he vandalized 10 airplanes at Treasure Coast Flight School at Whitham Field in Stuart.
Sumebh Singh, a 23-year-old student from India, became angry after school instructors would not allow him to take a solo flight, according to the sheriff's office in a Facebook post.
School officials called the Martin County Sheriff's Office after they saw Singh on video going from plane to plane causing damage to each of the aircraft. A plane’s throttle was among the items damaged.
Michael Leighton, who owns a different flight training school, said the photo that showed damage to the throttle contro is clearly “vindictive” and he has never heard a student sabotage an airplane since he started training in 1988.
“I feel bad for him [the owner],” Leighton told WPTV reporter Ethan Stein. "Ten airplanes down like that, it's got to put a big kink in his business because not only is a thousand dollars to fix the plane, but the three to four days of revenue that the plane doesn’t fly, times 10, is a lot of money."
Leighton said regulations, which strengthened after 9/11, required background checks, visas, registration by the trainee and instructor into an online database along with other requirements. He said it can take time for students to receive permission to fly.
“It’s not easy to make the connection,” Leighton said. “It could six weeks, sometimes seven weeks, sometimes eight weeks to get it.”
The planes are grounded until mechanics can determine what damage was caused to each of the planes.
Singh was arrested at Whitman Field and faces a charge of felony criminal mischief. Additional charges are possible.
