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Please keep a look out for anyone selling a GTN 650 or a GMA 350 or looking to buy the install kits for them.
The 2 items were stolen from a PA28 aircraft operated by “Aerobility” not long after they had been fitted.
The serial numbers are
GTN 650 – 1Z8021257
GMA350 – 1UF100394
Aerobility is a charity that enables light aviation for disabled and profoundly ill people, turning the dream of flying into an exhilarating reality.
Whoever stole these are truly heartless.
If you have any information please call 101 and let Hampshire police know on crime reference number: 44180151257 or Contact Aerobility directly via their website : http://www.aerobility.com/contact/contact.php
Thank you for keeping an eye out!
Recently stolen:
Avidyne IFD 440 – Serial Number M181628818
Trig TT31 Transponder – Serial Number 03436
Stolen from PA28 G-BJBW based at Popham, UK.
The really amazing thing is that the thief got in via the locks and locked them afterwards. Picking a lock (unless it is one which can be done with a bent nail) is not trivial and you would certainly not lock it afterwards! It is a syndicate and I reckon an inside job.
Peter wrote:
The really amazing thing is that the thief got in via the locks and locked them afterwards. Picking a lock (unless it is one which can be done with a bent nail)
Which describes aircraft locks to a tee. “Picking” a lock is really pushing the definition when it comes to door locks on planes.
We lost the keys to my wife’s Tiger in Colorado once. The FBO gave us a big box of random keys, and after about the fifth one chosen at random we found one that would unlock both the canopy and turn the ignition lock.
I know a Piper that crashed into woods approx 1nm from the airfield. There was a policeman guarding the wreck, but he must have gone home at 17h because the instruments and radios disappeared overnight. The cabin was reasonably upright and not too badly damaged, but it can’t have been easy walking through the woods in the dark and working with a torch, with animals rustling and owls hooting etc. No idea if it was souvenir-hunters, opportunists, or a criminal operation. I’d hesitate to use parts which had been in a crash.
Aveling’s story is depressing. On aircraft, is there other legislation that can be used against thieves (assuming they’re identified) e.g. sabotage, illegal interference with a flight or similar?
An interesting article: a teenager taught himself to fly by repeatedly ‘borrowing’ an out-of-annual C150.
