How easy is it to steal a plane from Page Field?

A man has been arrested and charged with attempting to steal an airplane at Page Field Airport in Fort Myers.

And the question is arising on how 43-year-old Bruce Plummer got in.

Some pilots said stealing a plane is probably easier than a car.

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That is, of course, if you know how to fly.

Through further investigation, it was discovered that Plummer had an inactive student pilot’s license.

Those same pilots said getting over the airport’s fence was not that hard.

Jacob Girouard, Fort Myers Flight Club safety and security expert, said the proper way to enter Page Field is through these gates. There’s a keypad and a code.

“You have to wait for the gate to close. If anyone comes in behind you, you’re supposed to report it,” he said.

He knows Page Field well, has been flying in and out for four years, and said he understands that if Plummer wanted to get in, it’s not that hard.

“He just jumped a fence. You can see there, what, eight-foot fences with barbed wire, so if you had some liquid courage, it probably made it pretty easy,” Girouard said.

• RELATED: Man who worked with accused plane thief speaks out

Girouard is speculating, but Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigators feel certain. Not only did Plummer break into Page Field early Monday morning wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a rifle. LCSO believes he stole this plane and crashed before ever getting off the ground.

Victor Slaughter is a charter pilot for Cypress Air and has been taking off and landing at Page Field for eight years.

He and Girourad agree that stealing a plane may be easier than stealing a car if you know what you’re doing.

“You see how the planes are here; it was tied up; it was probably waiting for service,” Girouard said.

“If somebody abuses that system and finds a plane that hasn’t been properly locked or whatever, then it’s not so different than a carjacking,” Slaughter said.

As for security, the port authority won’t talk about what security they have in place, so we don’t know if there’s police here 24/7, but we do know from the sheriff’s office report that it took five hours to discover the plane in the fence.

Congressman Byron Donalds said he scheduled a phone call with the FAA to discuss security here.

When he gets back to me, we’ll get that information to you.