On Monday, the 148th received an urgent alert--scramble.

"I was just relaxing from a previous training mission when the horn went off," said Capt. Alek Lied, F-16 pilot with the Duluth 148th Fighter Wing. "So I pretty much leapt out of my chair and ran out there and we were airborne again in about 5 minutes."

Captains Lied and T.J. Rendulich bolted to their jets and reached the stolen Cessna within minutes.

"We like to be airborne within 15 minutes, we definitely beat that, and you know, by the time we got out there it was less than 20 minutes," said Rendulich.

Authorities say the plane was reportedly stolen by by 31-year-old Adam Leon, a native of Turkey who became a Canadian citizen last year.

"He was not under any authority to fly within Canada or outside Canada," said Michael Kucharek, spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. "He did not file a flight plan and was not clear to fly."

The 148th Fighter Wing pilots say the tried to contact the man on the radio, but to no avail.

"The only responses we got out of him all day was the wave when I came up on his left side and then at one point approximately over Wausau he did a 360-degree turn," said Lied.

The pilots also moved in for a closer look.

"So we had to get close enough just to see what was going on in there so we did that and we got up real close and looked in there--as far as I could tell there was just a single pilot in there," said Lied.

Officials say fighter jets from other states replaced the 148th aircraft during the intercept. Eventually the pilot set the airplane down on a Missouri highway. After landing the aircraft, officials say the pilot of the stolen plane fled on foot and was arrested a short-while later.

"We practice this a lot but there's nothing that can really prepare you for when the horn actually goes off," said Rendulich.

The incident remains under investigation. Apparently the pilot told a Missouri State Trooper that he was trying to commit suicide and was hoping to be shot down. He is currently being held awaiting charges from Federal prosecutors.