$150000 of Avionics Stolen.

X3 Skier

X3 Skier

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My Home Drome was hit by a single thief last night who stole GPS and Comm Gear out of several Flght School planes.

dayton247now.com

Greene County Airport hit by $150k theft affecting MacAir Aviation fleet

XENIA, Ohio (WKEF) -- The Greene County Regional Airport was broken into overnight. The thief allegedly stole about $150,000 in equipment from multiple differen
dayton247now.com dayton247now.com

My plane was locked the hangar and besides the systems are “Vintage” like the plane itself and the pilot.
 
Hopefully they have a good surveillance system.
 
They do and have tape of the theft. No clue how good it is as Ross isn’t talking more than that.
 
We had a local airport near me have some folks that flew in at night, took some items from planes parked on the ramp, and flew away. This was not reported in the local news so I don't want to name the location but the manager & I spoke about measures being put in place for two airport locations to include better entrance gates and high definition cameras ...
 
When it happened in the Chicago area a few years ago it didnt matter if they were on the ramp or in a hangar. A few pretty secure airports with gated key card entry. If the hangars had a deadbolt they'd skip it.
 
Are piston planes the primary victims of stuff like this, or does it also happen to turbine/jet equipment?

It would probably be harder to fence a G3000 than a GNS430, I guess.
 
dans2992 said:
Are piston planes the primary victims of stuff like this, or does it also happen to turbine/jet equipment?

It would probably be harder to fence a G3000 than a GNS430, I guess.
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Seems the trick is to steal two and swap one of the stolen ones into another plane so that one gets repoerted as stolen but is never found because it's in another plane and the one stolen doesn't get reported because there's a stolen one replacing it ...

Crooks are quite clever ... i.e. look at our gubbamint for clear proof!
 
I was planning on going to this airport next month. Maybe Dayton International is a safer bet…
 
I know I have been to Green county airport but I can't remember it of the top of my head.
11 aircraft to break into, they must have been there a while with no security.
 
Gary Ward said:
I know I have been to Green county airport but I can't remember it of the top of my head.
11 aircraft to break into, they must have been there a while with no security.
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From what I saw when I was there a year ago, nobody is there after hours.
 
Every time I see news about avionics theft makes me wonder if it gives crack heads a idea of easy money at the local airport.
 
Florida Flyer said:
No one in their right mind would steal a 430!
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Probably taken for Parts.
Gary Ward said:
I know I have been to Green county airport but I can't remember it of the top of my head.
11 aircraft to break into, they must have been there a while with no security.
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They are on the ramp since the new hangar for the FBO is still in the planning stage. Should be under construction this year.
Gary Ward said:
Wow, that sux!
Is the ramp fenced I wonder? I guess not?
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It is with a four feet high fence :biggrin:
 
Well, a 4-foot fence at least keeps the deer off of the runway (probably).
 
Daleandee said:
Seems the trick is to steal two and swap one of the stolen ones into another plane so that one gets repoerted as stolen but is never found because it's in another plane and the one stolen doesn't get reported because there's a stolen one replacing it ...

Crooks are quite clever ... i.e. look at our gubbamint for clear proof!
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For some things, that works until the database update.
 
Daleandee said:
We had a local airport near me have some folks that flew in at night, took some items from planes parked on the ramp, and flew away. This was not reported in the local news so I don't want to name the location but the manager & I spoke about measures being put in place for two airport locations to include better entrance gates and high definition cameras ...
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Well that will certainly prevent that from happening again.
 
aftCG said:
Well that will certainly prevent that from happening again.
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Yeah I know. I've always said that all cameras really do is let you watch your stuff being stolen. Still if it identifies the crooks it may do some good. But he's the manager and my recommendation to use a few junk yard dogs didn't fare very well ... :fingerwag:
 
I have visited the Air Force museum several times and that is the airport I use , will have to rethink that choice . Fortunately there are other airports in the area.
 
When new avionics prices are so unreasonable, the risks of stealing them become worth it. This reminds me a lot of the wave of motorcycle thefts in Japan in the 90's. When parts became impossible to source legally, garages started paying rings of thieves to steal bikes that could be chopped for parts.
 
brien23 said:
Every time I see news about avionics theft makes me wonder if it gives crack heads a idea of easy money at the local airport.
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A crackhead or similar type of thief would attack the panel with a hammer. Those radios were removed from the stack by methods which revealed the person had knowledge of avionics.

He also knew the school had multiple IFR capable aircraft, what avionics were in the aircraft, that the airport was unoccupied after hours, and that apparently most of the planes were unlocked or the perp had keys. A few sustained damage from forced entry. Performing the removal from 11 planes, placing them in a vehicle, and leaving the scene in just 30 minutes also indicates another person or persons assisted in the action.

This leads to the not unreasonable conclusion the theft was performed by persons which had more than casual knowledge of the airport, airplanes, and their contents. Employees? Maybe. A pilot renter? Possible.

Comments from a local news article:

"While investigators are working to identify a suspect, McNutt said the person responsible appeared to be familiar with what they could and couldn’t take and were able to hit 11 airplanes in about half an hour.

“There was no vandalism,” said Capt. Kell Moore. “There was some damage to a couple of the planes consistent with forced entry in order to effect the thefts.”

www.daytondailynews.com

$150K in equipment reportedly stolen in break-in at Greene County airport

Approximately $150,000 in GPS, navigation sytems, radios and other equipment were reportedly stolen from airplanes at the Greene County Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport earlier this week.
www.daytondailynews.com www.daytondailynews.com
 
I never thought about such a thing until I saw a post about a flight school in my state that got hit hard. As much as I hate "internet of things" connections, it almost seems that expensive avionics would benefit from some heartbeat to any open wifi so you could remote lock them if reported stolen. Generally locked stuff isnt worth the time to steal to most. Serial numbers are fine and dandy, but do nothing when buried behind a console.
 
Thieves are clever nowadays... one scam is they steal avionics from aircraft A, then break into aircraft B with identical avionics and swap them, selling the "B" avionics. Owner B has no idea, so nobody's looking for the serial number of the stuff they're selling.
 
GaryM said:
Not even close. A 6 foot fence only keeps the less athletic deer out.
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I can attest to that since there was a couple crossing the end of the runway below me as I was climbing out
 
Where they stolen or reprocessed? There have been stories.
 
Dana said:
Thieves are clever nowadays... one scam is they steal avionics from aircraft A, then break into aircraft B with identical avionics and swap them, selling the "B" avionics. Owner B has no idea, so nobody's looking for the serial number of the stuff they're selling.
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That's actually an old trick (heard about it in the 80's). Harder to accomplish today with database updates and internet access etc etc etc.
 
Have we reached the point where it is prudent to take your GPS Navigator home with you after the days flying is done?
 
Dana said:
Thieves are clever nowadays... one scam is they steal avionics from aircraft A, then break into aircraft B with identical avionics and swap them, selling the "B" avionics. Owner B has no idea, so nobody's looking for the serial number of the stuff they're selling.
Click to expand...

As mentioned database updates will fail, but many if not most GPS units are not acting in isolation, they’re interconnected to transponders(ADSB), engine monitors, etc, and assuming they don’t take the time to copy the configuration files from one to the other, the owner is going quickly see something is wrong.
 
I may be completely wrong, but I do not remember the database updates from Garmin or Jeppesen being serial number dependent. Maybe on initial service startup, but the particulars escape me.
If not dependent, then this would not call attention to a swapped radio of the same kind. So where would the serial number mismatch show up if not active an active recheck manually?
 
Any Garmin GPS newer than a 430 will have its databases tied to the unit's serial number. You can't take an SD card with a database intended for S/N X and place it in S/N Y. So when the owner of a plane with tries to do a database update he'll notice there's an error.
 
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