I'll See Your Cessna and Raise You Two F-16s

You don't see pursuits like this every day:

A Cessna stolen from a Canadian flight school landed on a Missouri highway late today, after being pursued for hours across the Midwest by fighter jets ready to shoot it down if it was determined to be a threat.

Authorities says two F-16 fighters were dispatched to track a single-engine plane over Wisconsin that was believed stolen in Canada by a student pilot.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)The single engine Cessna 172 landed on U.S. Highway 60 in Missouri around 9 p.m. CT, and according to sources the pilot ran from the plane.

There were no reports of injuries on the ground.

The plane had been escorted by two F-16 fighter jets since shortly after it crossed into U.S. airspace from Canada, and the pilot did not respond to multiple requests that he establish communications with ground controllers.

A Customs and Border Protection aircraft was also closely monitoring the Cessna.

The plane entered American airspace over Michigan's Upper Peninsula at 3:25 p.m. today and was trailed by the military aircraft since 4:43 p.m. as it flew over Minnesota, south through Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri.

At one point, the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison was evacuated as a precaution as the plane flew over the city.

Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, confirmed to ABC News that one of its aircraft was stolen today and flown out of Thunder Bay International Airport at 2:55 p.m.

I've got a few dozen hours behind the wheel of a Cessna 172, but never had the opportunity to have two military fighters following me. The toughest thing for those fighters was slowing down enough to keep pace with the Cessna. Maximum cruising speed for a 172 (from my memory) is about 120 knots (around 135 mph). The F-16 stall speed is probably higher than that.

You might remember another international incident involving a Cessna 172. In 1987 Mattias Rust, a West German youth, piloted a 172 to a landing in Red Square, Moscow. How he didn't get shot down I'll never know. More than one Russian defense official ended up in the gulag after that one.