Radio Thieves

Crazy. Is this close to you? Do you know if they actually broke into planes, or did they hit unlocked ones?
 
Jim K said:
Crazy. Is this close to you? Do you know if they actually broke into planes, or did they hit unlocked ones?
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It's just up the road, at the airport where that guy is still trying to get the Raptor prototype flying. It looks like he broke into planes that were not hangared, and as @Dan Thomas said, it's really easy to get into a GA airplane, especially if you don't care how much damage you do.

Another reason to hangar your airplane if you can.
 
There aren't that many different locks anyway, and even then a paperclip will open them.
 
Should be some interesting eBay items with no trays or connectors. :(

Hopefully everyone who got hit has the S/N's for their gear so they can report them to the mfg as stolen. I've heard Garmin tracks "known to be stolen" S/N's and buyers can verify against that.
 
Ravioli said:
Should be some interesting eBay items with no trays or connectors. :(

Hopefully everyone who got hit has the S/N's for their gear so they can report them to the mfg as stolen. I've heard Garmin tracks "known to be stolen" S/N's and buyers can verify against that.
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Garmin does for sure, takes about two days to get and email back when asking for them to check.
 
I take all the expensive radios out when leaving it parked outdoors, or away from home for more than a day or two.

I took all of them out when it sat in a friend's hangar for a month. (I had his airplane doing MX)
 
Ravioli said:
Should be some interesting eBay items with no trays or connectors.
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Unfortunately a good portion of stolen aviation gear follows the same path as stolen aircraft... out of the country.
 
Been saying for over a decade that I dread the day when dumb thieves find out that most small GA airports are unsecured and airplanes are easy to unlock or kick a window out. The ROI for buying a X/Y" hex wrench for this job is nearly astronomical.

Now the news will spread the information to other thieves and avionics theft will ramp up drastically. Ugh. I hate thieves.
 
BigBadLou said:
I dread the day when dumb thieves find out that most small GA airports are unsecured
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This has been going on for decades and usually runs in cycles. For the next part of the cycle there will be several "enterprising" owners who will also get "robbed" and which usually ends with one owner getting arrested or pleads to insurance fraud. The thieves unfortunately do not get caught most of the time.
 
Ravioli said:
Should be some interesting eBay items with no trays or connectors. :(

Hopefully everyone who got hit has the S/N's for their gear so they can report them to the mfg as stolen. I've heard Garmin tracks "known to be stolen" S/N's and buyers can verify against that.
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I believe the common MO for that scenario is for the thief to find a 2nd plane with the same radio, break into it, slide the radio out of the tray and slide the first one they stole back into the tray. The reported stolen # now lives in the 2nd plane and the owner of the 2nd plane never reports their radio as being stolen because they're unaware the radio has been swapped.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I believe the common MO for that scenario is for the thief to find a 2nd plane with the same radio, break into it, slide the radio out of the tray and slide the first one they stole back into the tray. The reported stolen # now lives in the 2nd plane and the owner of the 2nd plane never reports their radio as being stolen because they're unaware the radio has been swapped.
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Your scenario gives far to much credit to the thief.

Also, If I got in and my 430W had the wrong data displayed on my configured pages I'd know it a minute. Might work on rental planes, but the chances of someone having the same box with the same preferences nears zero very quickly.
 
Ravioli said:
Your scenario gives far to much credit to the thief.

Also, If I got in and my 430W had the wrong data displayed on my configured pages I'd know it a minute. Might work on rental planes, but the chances of someone having the same box with the same preferences nears zero very quickly.
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This sort of switch was common in the '70s, when radios didn't have databases or optional settings. An owner's radio would quit so he'd take it in to the avionics guys and they'd check the list of stolen serial numbers and there it was, sure enough. Puts the owner in a bad spot.
 
bnt83 said:
Garmin does for sure, takes about two days to get and email back when asking for them to check.
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I assume they won’t allow updating of the databases on the stolen equipment, effectively making them VFR only GPS.
And they won’t have the tray, tough to sell a naked GPS box.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I assume they won’t allow updating of the databases on the stolen equipment, effectively making them VFR only GPS.
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my garmin has a removable card that is updated. Update service is with Jeppesen, not garmin. Sooo...I'd speculate it'd be pretty easy to keep a stolen unit updated but there may be some safeguards that I'm not aware of.
 
timwinters said:
my garmin has a removable card that is updated. Update service is with Jeppesen, not garmin. Sooo...I'd speculate it'd be pretty easy to keep a stolen unit updated but there may be some safeguards that I'm not aware of.
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Does that card work on any box, pretty sure they would encode the serial number into the database to prevent sharing a database subscription?
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Does that card work on any box, pretty sure they would encode the serial number into the database to prevent sharing a database subscription?
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I don’t know about the others, but the cards for the 430 and 530 can simply be pulled out of one and slid into another. I move them between two different planes often. I am only capable of flying one of the planes at a time.
 
MBDiagMan said:
One more reason not to put put the cart in front of the horse. Get a hangar BEFORE buying an airplane, not after.
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Just one more simple lock for the thief to pick, and then he has privacy for doing his thing. Too many hangars are locked with typical household hardware instead of stout hasps and good padlocks on steel doors in steel frames.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Does that card work on any box, pretty sure they would encode the serial number into the database to prevent sharing a database subscription?
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The cards are not linked to any particular radio. We swap cards around all the time.
 
Another reason I have outdated equipment in mine. :D From the looks of the empty trays, the thieves knew what they were going after. WAAS GPS, and ADSB transponder. The name Garmin came up from time to time in the news report.
 
Aren’t most hangars locked with padlocks? Something a decent bolt cutter can make short work of?
 
woodchucker said:
Aren’t most hangars locked with padlocks? Something a decent bolt cutter can make short work of?
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I've had access to several different T-hangers over the years. And every one of them was constructed in such a way that anyone with access with to one of the hangars could bring in a couple ladders and very easily 'jump the walls' to gain access to any of the other hangar spaces in the building.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
I've had access to several different T-hangers over the years. And every one of them was constructed in such a way that anyone with access with to one of the hangars could bring in a couple ladders and very easily 'jump the walls' to gain access to any of the other hangar spaces in the building.
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Our T hangers are closed all the way floor to ceiling.

The airport also has a nice 10' fence topped with barbed wire. Access is through a card-trol car gate, or a walk in gate with a simplex lock. Next to the door is a one way turnstile like this: ht431.jpg

You can just reach through the turnstile bars and open the door from the inside. :rolleyes2:

But you have to take your shoes off and go through the scanner to board a commercial flight there.
 
bluerooster said:
Another reason I have outdated equipment in mine. :D From the looks of the empty trays, the thieves knew what they were going after. WAAS GPS, and ADSB transponder. The name Garmin came up from time to time in the news report.
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ADSB should be the one thing that's very easy to track, right?
 
Jim K said:
Our T hangers are closed all the way floor to ceiling.

The airport also has a nice 10' fence topped with barbed wire. Access is through a card-trol car gate, or a walk in gate with a simplex lock. Next to the door is a one way turnstile like this: View attachment 82764

You can just reach through the turnstile bars and open the door from the inside. :rolleyes2:

But you have to take your shoes off and go through the scanner to board a commercial flight there.
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The police suspect the perp flew in. KCNI is unattended and will be deserted most nights.
 
FormerHangie said:
The police suspect the perp flew in. KCNI is unattended and will be deserted most nights.
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I saw that. And I can't help but wonder how they came up with that.

<sarcasm>
Is it because it's so difficult to get through the incredibly secure fence they have?
</sarcasm>
 
I suppose there is some benefit to pain the ass security like KBED. Of course if there weren't turds who buy this stolen stuff, it would stop happening with such frequency.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Does that card work on any box, pretty sure they would encode the serial number into the database to prevent sharing a database subscription?
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The GNS series cards will work on any 430/530, the GTN cards data is serial number specific.
 
Can the GTN cards be formatted to work with different units?
 
flyer770 said:
Can the GTN cards be formatted to work with different units?
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I guess, I could have been more clear, the data is unit specific, you could reformat an SD card or buy a new one that would work, but my data subscription is tied to the serial number of my units. Sorry, for the confusion.
 
Ravioli said:
Your scenario gives far to much credit to the thief.

Also, If I got in and my 430W had the wrong data displayed on my configured pages I'd know it a minute.
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If the thief knows what a something like a 430 is, they probably also know how to delete all the saved info in one. For most people the scenario would be you get in the plane and find that all your saved info is gone, you figure hmm... guess the internal battery is dead, you put in the airport you're flying to that day and off you go without giving it 2nd throught.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
guess the internal battery is dead, you put in the airport you're flying to that day and off you go without giving it 2nd throught.
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Really.. you don't do anything about repairing the (suspected) dead internal battery?

What about the data cards, You think thieves swap yours in to be incognito?

That's nonsense.
 
Ravioli said:
Really.. you don't do anything about repairing the (suspected) dead internal battery?
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Obviously you would scrub the flight, ground the plane and call a mechanic. But you might be very surprised at how many people would not do that.

What about the data cards, You think thieves swap yours in to be incognito?

That's nonsense.
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Is it really nonsense? If we're talking about a thief who knows almost nothing about something like a 430 except that what they look like and what they sell for on ebay, then we're therefore talking about a thief who would not know enough to be concerned about having the serial number show up as stolen in Garmin's database. So yeah, that thief would not give any thought to the data card.

But if we're talking about a thief who knows exactly what a 430 is, knows exactly how it works and has given enough thought to how to avoid having the serial number show up as stolen by swapping it with the radio from another plane, then I would be shocked if that person did not also know enough to swap the data cards. It ain't exactly rocket surgery.
 
bnt83 said:
I take all the expensive radios out when leaving it parked outdoors, or away from home for more than a day or two.

I took all of them out when it sat in a friend's hangar for a month. (I had his airplane doing MX)
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I guess that it's not hard to do that. Not a bad idea
 
The airports are installing fencing, and the pilot thief just flys in to the airport and rips off aircraft. How much of a market can there be for avionics without the trays? Time to watch Craig’s list and EBay.
 
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