(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-04 20:26

An Indiana man was accused of stealing a twin-engine plane and driving it down the taxiway at a local airport while he was drunk to impress his girlfriend, according to local media reports Tuesday.

Michael Santos, whose driving privileges had previously been banned for life, was charged in LaPorte Circuit Court with theft and criminal mischief, both Class D felonies, along with being a habitual traffic offender, a Class C felony.

Santos is now being held in the LaPorte County Jail on $2,000 bond.

The 38-year-old man was drunk when he took his girlfriend to the airport Sept. 9 to show her that he could fly a plane. They climbed into the plane and were heading down the taxiway when flames began shooting from the left engine.

He said he turned off all the switches and veered into a soybean field.

The plane traveled a half mile along a taxiway, chopping up soybeans with the propeller before it got stuck in the field.

Damage to the aircraft was estimated at 160,000 dollars.