Teenagers Steal Parents' Plane and Crash-land in National Park

It's a typical story of teenage disaffection. You argue with your parents, storm out of your home and take off in the family car. But the case of two 14-year-old boys in southern California was somewhat different: they took the family plane.

The two boys were arrested on Monday evening after crash-landing the single engine plane in Joshua Tree national park, 100 miles east of Los Angeles.

"There was a disagreement between the boys and their parents and [the boys] decided to run away," a spokeswoman for San Bernardino county sheriff's department told reporters.

The alarm was raised after the boys were seen taxiing in the plane at Big Bear airport, 50 miles from Joshua Tree. The airport has no control tower, and pilots are not required to check in with security before flying. But two local pilots became suspicious when they saw the plane being piloted by someone they did not recognise. They alerted the plane's owner and the police, but by the time they arrived the boys had taken off.

The joyride did not last long. Apparently running out of fuel after just 90 minutes, rangers at the national park saw the plane descending before making a rough landing in a stretch of desert.

The boys, whose names have not been released, suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene before being taken into custody. They have been charged with stealing the plane and crash-landing it in a national park.