Amateur Pilot Pleads Guilty to Landing at Naval Base and Stealing a Truck

 

A man who decided to fly a small private airplane onto a far-flung naval base off California - twice - has been charged with criminal offenses and faces a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. Along the way, he demonstrated that it is possible to enter a small base by aircraft, then move around inside the security perimeter for hours before capture. 

Andrew Kyle White, 37 and a resident of California, was an amateur pilot. In 2023, he flew a lightweight Glasair Glastar airplane out to San Clemente Island, southwest of Long Beach. San Clemente is owned by the U.S. Navy and lightly inhabited, with just 150 residents; administratively it is part of Naval Base Coronado, but most of it is wildland. There are two small airfields towards the northwestern end and a very short, rough and disused airstrip at the southeastern tip.

White decided to land his light aircraft on one of these strips - and was quickly handed a letter informing him that landing on San Clemente was a federal offense, and one not to be repeated.

In April 2025, White flew back to the island anyways, and once again landed at an airfield. This time, he stole a pickup truck and made a circuit of the island - even attempting to ram gates, prosecutors said. Remarkably, he managed to move about the island for hours, forcing the Navy to dispatch security teams and expend about $500,000 to resolve the security breach. 

This time, White was arrested and charged with stealing government property and illegally entering a naval base. He has pleaded guilty to both charges and faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing.