Airplane keys

[Ben Jackson]

Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
one for the mag switch.

Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[Jim Burns]

The ring in my front pocket has 4 on it. hanger, front baggage, rear
baggage, cabin door.... no mag key. I always carry them with me. We've
replaced the cabin door lock but were un able to match it to either the nose
or rear baggage lock.

Jim

"Ben Jackson" > wrote in message
news:u40xd.216042$V41.143415@attbi_s52...
> Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
> all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
> different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
> one for the mag switch.
>
> Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?
>
> --
> Ben Jackson
> >
> http://www.ben.com/


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[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (Ben Jackson) said:
>Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?

Sure, no problem. We (our flying club) regularly rekey planes - whenever
we buy an Archer, we rekey it to be the same as our other Archers (the
club currently only has two Archers, but when I joined we had three, none
of which we currently own, but my same key works). I think our A&P does
it.

--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I'd sooner volunteer to admin every Windows box at $ORKPLACE (and it's a
biiiig place) than think for one second that I could understand the thought
process of a teenage female. -- David P. Murphy

[G.R. Patterson III]

Ben Jackson wrote:
>
> Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
> all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
> different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
> one for the mag switch.
>
> Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?

If the locks are made by the same company (unlikely), any locksmith can do that.
Remove the two door locks and see if a smith can rekey them to the that for the
master switch. If not, see if one of them can be rekeyed to the other (at least
you'd get down to two).

Me, I have a separate key for the door. I key both keys on a ring in my flight
case. If I were to want to be ready to fly anytime, I would keep the case in the
truck.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

[Dude]

"Ben Jackson" > wrote in message
news:u40xd.216042$V41.143415@attbi_s52...
> Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
> all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
> different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
> one for the mag switch.
>
> Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?
>
> --
> Ben Jackson
> >
> http://www.ben.com/

My solution is to leave the plane keys in my car. Then, when I go on a
trip, I put my car and house ring in my bag. This way, I don't have them
both in my pockets at the same time.

[Bob Chilcoat]

Any locksmith can rekey the door and baggage keys to the mag key. Unless
you pay for a service call at the airport, you'll need to take the locks off
and give them to him along with the mag key.

We have a different door and baggage compartment key, but either works the
mag switch. I just keep my keys clipped to my flight bag. Since I never
fly without it, I always have my keys with me.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"Ben Jackson" > wrote in message
news:u40xd.216042$V41.143415@attbi_s52...
> Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
> all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
> different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
> one for the mag switch.
>
> Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?
>
> --
> Ben Jackson
> >
> http://www.ben.com/

[Almarz]

No brain surgery there. Take out the locks (or tumblers if you can)
and bring them to your locksmith (a real one, not the boys at the
hardware store). You'll find that these are the simplest things they
can do.

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 20:05:46 GMT, (Ben Jackson) wrote:

>Someone in another thread mentioned that they carry their airplane keys
>all the time. I'd like to do that, but my 39 year old airplane has 3
>different keys -- one for the baggage door, one for the cabin door and
>one for the mag switch.
>
>Has anyone successfully re-keyed an airplane back to a single key?

[Andrew Gideon]

Bob Chilcoat wrote:

> I just keep my keys clipped to my flight bag. Since I never
> fly without it, I always have my keys with me.

That is very rational. I suppose that, when I eventually get over the
thrill of having plane keys, I'll do the same. In the meantime, they're
always with me.

- Andrew

[nrp]

A friend (A) with a '51 Bonanza had someone (B) drive him 150 miles to
retreive it from being weathered-in a week earlier. On arrival, A
found he had forgotten his keys but his non-pilot driver (B) suggested
the friend try some of Bs key ring just-in-case they could force the
lock. The friend found not one, but two keys that would work.

[Robert M. Gary]

Yes. The keys are cheap cabinet keys that any lock smith can change.
Just unscrew the cylinders from the door and bring them it.

[[email protected]]

nrp wrote :
>The friend found not one, but two keys that would work.

Pretty common. There are only 5 or 6 different types of keys. I
carry three different airplane keys and can get into quite a number of
airplanes. While trying to assist a transient pilot that was locked
out of his plane, I found that none of my three airplane keys would
work. Just for fun, I tried the key to my office file cabinet. It
worked perfectly.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[[email protected]]

> wrote:
> nrp wrote :
> >The friend found not one, but two keys that would work.

> Pretty common. There are only 5 or 6 different types of keys. I
> carry three different airplane keys and can get into quite a number of
> airplanes. While trying to assist a transient pilot that was locked
> out of his plane, I found that none of my three airplane keys would
> work. Just for fun, I tried the key to my office file cabinet. It
> worked perfectly.

> John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

When I worked at an avionics shop, we kept a small box of misc. keys around
for when owners would drop the plane off after closing and forget to
leave the key.

It usually took no more than 2 or 3 tries to find a key that worked.

--
Jim Pennino

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