Attempted forced entry.

The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980 Cessna
182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame immediately
below the latch. I looked at the bottom of the window frame and saw it was
bent up a little. It looked like someone had used a small screwdriver in an
attempt to pry open the window. I looked carefully all around the window
frame and found another pry mark in the rear lower corner.

This was obviously the feeble attempt of an amateur thief, since almost any
key will open the stock Cessna door lock. (Another pilot told me he once
tried several small keys on his key ring in a Cessna door lock. His gas tank
cap key and his mother's garage door key worked just fine.)

The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. I have no idea when the attempt was made, but the
plane has been overnight only at U42 (Salt Lake City #2, UT) and FFZ (Falcon
Field, Mesa, AZ) within the past year.

I'm wondering what, if anything, to do about this. I could contact the local
police and give them the dates when the plane was overnight. This might help
an investigation if other planes were molested. On the other hand, if the
TSA gets involved I can see them impounding the plane for evidence.
half-grin

What would you do?

Jon

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980 Cessna
182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame immediately
below the latch. I looked at the bottom of the window frame and saw it was
bent up a little. It looked like someone had used a small screwdriver in an
attempt to pry open the window. I looked carefully all around the window
frame and found another pry mark in the rear lower corner.

This was obviously the feeble attempt of an amateur thief, since almost any
key will open the stock Cessna door lock. (Another pilot told me he once
tried several small keys on his key ring in a Cessna door lock. His gas tank
cap key and his mother's garage door key worked just fine.)

The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. I have no idea when the attempt was made, but the
plane has been overnight only at U42 (Salt Lake City #2, UT) and FFZ (Falcon
Field, Mesa, AZ) within the past year.

I'm wondering what, if anything, to do about this. I could contact the local
police and give them the dates when the plane was overnight. This might help
an investigation if other planes were molested. On the other hand, if the
TSA gets involved I can see them impounding the plane for evidence.
half-grin

What would you do?

Jon


Check you hangar. We had break ins a few years ago where the people use
power drills and removed the screws holding the sheet panels in place,
then replaced them. The four were out on probation for other acts. The
judge sentenced them to probation,,,,,,again.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980 Cessna
182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame immediately
below the latch. I looked at the bottom of the window frame and saw it was
bent up a little. It looked like someone had used a small screwdriver in an
attempt to pry open the window. I looked carefully all around the window
frame and found another pry mark in the rear lower corner.

This was obviously the feeble attempt of an amateur thief, since almost any
key will open the stock Cessna door lock. (Another pilot told me he once
tried several small keys on his key ring in a Cessna door lock. His gas tank
cap key and his mother's garage door key worked just fine.)

The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. I have no idea when the attempt was made, but the
plane has been overnight only at U42 (Salt Lake City #2, UT) and FFZ (Falcon
Field, Mesa, AZ) within the past year.

I'm wondering what, if anything, to do about this. I could contact the local
police and give them the dates when the plane was overnight. This might help
an investigation if other planes were molested. On the other hand, if the
TSA gets involved I can see them impounding the plane for evidence.
half-grin

What would you do?

Jon



With the exception of needing the paperwork for your insurance I don't
see what you could gain or how any ongoing investigation could be helped
by you reporting it now.

"Ross" wrote in message
...
Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980 Cessna
182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame
immediately below the latch.

snip


What would you do?

Jon
Check you hangar. We had break ins a few years ago where the people use
power drills and removed the screws holding the sheet panels in place,
then replaced them. The four were out on probation for other acts. The
judge sentenced them to probation,,,,,,again.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Mucho thread drift here, but miscreants really don't understand who they are
fooling with when they screw with airplanes and pilots. I'd hate to be the
thief who got caught by the Saturday morning crowd at my airport. With
bandsaws, blowtorches, nibblers, stretchers, shrinkers, rivet guns, and a
host of other implements on hand, Mr. Breaking and Entering would have a
very bad day. He'd probably be relieved when/if we turned him over to the
police...

KB

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980 Cessna
182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame immediately
below the latch. I looked at the bottom of the window frame and saw it was
bent up a little. It looked like someone had used a small screwdriver in an
attempt to pry open the window. I looked carefully all around the window
frame and found another pry mark in the rear lower corner.

This was obviously the feeble attempt of an amateur thief, since almost any
key will open the stock Cessna door lock. (Another pilot told me he once
tried several small keys on his key ring in a Cessna door lock. His gas tank
cap key and his mother's garage door key worked just fine.)

The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. I have no idea when the attempt was made, but the
plane has been overnight only at U42 (Salt Lake City #2, UT) and FFZ (Falcon
Field, Mesa, AZ) within the past year.

I'm wondering what, if anything, to do about this. I could contact the local
police and give them the dates when the plane was overnight. This might help
an investigation if other planes were molested. On the other hand, if the
TSA gets involved I can see them impounding the plane for evidence.
half-grin

What would you do?

Given what little you know about the attempt, I would do nothing. I
think reporting this would simply we wasting the time of the police.

Matt

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
/snip/
The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. /snip/


Jon,

Don't assume it didn't happen in your hangar. Many would be thieves
aren't smart enough to know how, or even to try, to open the door
normally. Years ago I saw several car windows smashed in at our local
airport. The glove boxes were rifled through, but not much of value was
taken. The cars had all been parked with the doors unlocked...

Happy Flying!
Scott Skylane

Kyle Boatright wrote:

"Ross" wrote in message
...
Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980
Cessna 182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door
frame immediately below the latch.

snip


What would you do?

Jon
Check you hangar. We had break ins a few years ago where the people
use power drills and removed the screws holding the sheet panels in
place, then replaced them. The four were out on probation for other
acts. The judge sentenced them to probation,,,,,,again.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Mucho thread drift here, but miscreants really don't understand who they
are fooling with when they screw with airplanes and pilots. I'd hate to
be the thief who got caught by the Saturday morning crowd at my airport.
With bandsaws, blowtorches, nibblers, stretchers, shrinkers, rivet guns,
and a host of other implements on hand, Mr. Breaking and Entering would
have a very bad day. He'd probably be relieved when/if we turned him
over to the police...

That sounds pretty benign to me. In my part of the country the main
question would be what caliber hole is the perp bleeding from?

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:

"Ross" wrote in message
...
Jon Woellhaf wrote:
The other day, while removing the left-hand door panel on my 1980
Cessna 182, I noticed small pry marks on the outside of the door frame
immediately below the latch.

snip


What would you do?

Jon
Check you hangar. We had break ins a few years ago where the people use
power drills and removed the screws holding the sheet panels in place,
then replaced them. The four were out on probation for other acts. The
judge sentenced them to probation,,,,,,again.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Mucho thread drift here, but miscreants really don't understand who they
are fooling with when they screw with airplanes and pilots. I'd hate to
be the thief who got caught by the Saturday morning crowd at my airport.
With bandsaws, blowtorches, nibblers, stretchers, shrinkers, rivet guns,
and a host of other implements on hand, Mr. Breaking and Entering would
have a very bad day. He'd probably be relieved when/if we turned him
over to the police...

That sounds pretty benign to me. In my part of the country the main
question would be what caliber hole is the perp bleeding from?

That sounds pretty benign to me. In my part of the country the main
question would be which hog ate what part.

In article ications,
Scott Skylane wrote:

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
/snip/
The plane is hangared at BJC (Metro, Denver, CO) and I'm quite certain the
attempted forced entry didn't occur there, because I never lock the plane
when it's in the hangar. /snip/


Jon,

Don't assume it didn't happen in your hangar. Many would be thieves
aren't smart enough to know how, or even to try, to open the door
normally. Years ago I saw several car windows smashed in at our local
airport. The glove boxes were rifled through, but not much of value was
taken. The cars had all been parked with the doors unlocked...

Happy Flying!
Scott Skylane

Check your avionics serial numbers!

Some of the more clever thieves will steal avionics from one airplane,
break into another that has the same stuff and switch radios. That way
they have a set of serial numbers that have not been reported stolen.

You never know the difference until you take one in for service. Then
the trap is on you!

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.

In article jyYxk.991$Wd.438@trnddc01, "Mike"
wrote:

That sounds pretty benign to me. In my part of the country the main
question would be which hog ate what part.

Don't forget the Martin Caidin Twin Beech prop solution.