Pilot Busted for Airport Carjacking

A commercial pilot has been arrested for a bizarre carjacking just hours before he was supposed to fly a plane from Seattle to Tokyo. Police say the Omni Air pilot climbed into a stranger's rental car at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and refused to leave even after the driver pulled a handgun, the Seattle Times reports. After a scuffle in which the suspect was hit several times with the handgun, the driver left the vehicle. The suspect chased the driver—who still had the gun—around the vehicle several times before making off with the car.

Cops found the bloodied pilot and the car in a nearby parking lot soon afterward and he was charged with car theft and DUI. The name of the pilot, who is from Oklahoma, has not been released. "We want to emphasize that the crew member was off duty at the time of the incident and was not scheduled to report for duty for 12 hours," an airline spokesman tells the AP. "The crew member is currently on suspension while the facts are being investigated." (More carjacking stories.)