(Image Credit: Handout)

A Georgia man who wanted to fly home to see his mother found a surprisingly easy way to sneak into the cockpit of an unoccupied cargo plane, according to police.

Mahiri Hanif, 20, tried to enter the airport concourse through an exit lane Tuesday afternoon but was told by an officer he had to go through the TSA checkpoint, according to the Pensacola Police Department.

When his original plan was thwarted, police said Hanif left the building and was later seen climbing a barbed wire fence on the perimeter of the airport.

From there, authorities said Hanif ran up the portable steps of an unoccupied cargo plane, opened the door and sat down in the pilot's seat.

Hanif was arrested on a burglary charge.

He is being held in an Escambia County Jail on a $7,500 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 16, according to online jail records.