As freedom looms, what next for the Barefoot Bandit? He wants to be the Steve Jobs of aviation

After achieving modern-day outlaw status as the “Barefoot Bandit” - a baby-faced teenager whose two-year crime spree took him from Washington state to the Bahamas, stealing a half-dozen airplanes and robbing stores along the way - what do you do for an encore?

Last week, Colton Harris-Moore was approved for a supervised work-release program that should lead to his freedom from prison by early 2017. After a 6 1/2-year term, he has had plenty of time to consider his second act.

Now 25, he’s leaning toward becoming the Steve Jobs of aviation.

“Nothing ever changes in aviation, and disrupting that will be good for the industry,” he said in a telephone interview from his prison outside of Seattle. “New ideas aren’t expressed or absorbed. I’m not satisfied with that. The industry can do better. That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m not going to stop.”

He would also rather just forget about the events leading up to July 11, 2010, the day he was finally captured shortly after holding a gun to his head on a powerboat grounded off Harbour Island in the Bahamas. That will be tough.

By that time, Harris-Moore had been inspiring songs and T-shirts (“Fly, Colton, Fly!” and “Barefoot Bandit for President!” were the most popular) and adoration from his 77,000 Facebook friends. At first, he found cover in the woods near his home on Camano Island and on Orcas Island, near Seattle, before setting off cross-country. Then, he stole cars, robbed stores and, when he could, flew off with unattended planes at airfields, usually crash-landing them.