First fairly long XC since ownership.

Finally got to take a fairly long trip in my 175B this weekend. went
from HGR (Hagerstown, Md) to TTA (Sanford, Nc) Sure was better than driving,
uaually takes around 6-1/2 hours to drive (no accidents holding us up),
three pee stops (kids), 2 stop at McDonalds etc... Instead is was 2 hours,
24 minutes down, 2 hours 15 minutes back. Word of warning though for NC,
fuel prices don't include tax. Fuel was $2.80 per gallon, plus 7% tax. 26.3
gallons costed me 78.79!

I got there just at dark on Friday night, locked her up and left, the
line guy said he would have them fuel it up the next day. Came back Saturday
afternoon, around 4 and found my door open. Lock broken, yet nothing
missing. My thinking is that they may have feared I would come in at night
and leave without paying for the fuel so they broke the lock to get the name
from inside. ****ed me off very badly but what good would it do to bitch?
None was my thinking.

What could I have done to avoid this? I'd rather they locked my plane to
the tiedown than break my lock. I would have left them a credit card or paid
right away, the guy was leaving for the night and didn't feel like getting
the truck out or I would have got the fuel and paid for it right away. I
don't have any proof that they did it but with nothing missing (Garmin 196
sitting right there), it kind of makes me wonder. Beware of KTTA in Sanford
NC. Either they break your stuff, or they don't notice when others do.

Wayne

Did you ask? It seems kind of odd that an FBO would do this. It is fairly
easy to find out who owns an airplane. I would report it *immediately* to
the FSDO. Tampering with an aircraft is a felony I believe.

Mike
MU-2


"Wayne" wrote in message
...
I got there just at dark on Friday night, locked her up and left, the
line guy said he would have them fuel it up the next day. Came back
Saturday
afternoon, around 4 and found my door open. Lock broken, yet nothing
missing. My thinking is that they may have feared I would come in at night
and leave without paying for the fuel so they broke the lock to get the
name
from inside. ****ed me off very badly but what good would it do to bitch?
None was my thinking.

What could I have done to avoid this? I'd rather they locked my plane
to
the tiedown than break my lock. I would have left them a credit card or
paid
right away, the guy was leaving for the night and didn't feel like getting
the truck out or I would have got the fuel and paid for it right away. I
don't have any proof that they did it but with nothing missing (Garmin 196
sitting right there), it kind of makes me wonder. Beware of KTTA in
Sanford
NC. Either they break your stuff, or they don't notice when others do.

Wayne

I was inside paying for the fuel, my girlfriend went out and found it.
She didn't tell me until I was already in the plane several times and the
preflight was done. I think if I had walked up to it first, I would have
went back in and raised hell and maybe even called the police but at that
point I figured I'd be wasting my breath.

I can't imagine who else would break in and not take anything.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Did you ask? It seems kind of odd that an FBO would do this. It is
fairly
easy to find out who owns an airplane. I would report it *immediately* to
the FSDO. Tampering with an aircraft is a felony I believe.

Mike
MU-2

Wayne wrote:
: I was inside paying for the fuel, my girlfriend went out and found it.
: She didn't tell me until I was already in the plane several times and the
: preflight was done. I think if I had walked up to it first, I would have
: went back in and raised hell and maybe even called the police but at that
: point I figured I'd be wasting my breath.

: I can't imagine who else would break in and not take anything.

Some years ago, a popular scam was to steal a radio from one airplane, and
exchange it with a like radio from another airplane. The rationale was
that the pilot whose radio is missing reports his serial# as being stolen
when it's actually installed in pilot #2's airplane. Pilot #2's radio, which
is the one that's actually been stolen for resale, is never reported stolen.
When pilot #2 shows up at the avionics shop with the radios stolen from
pilot #1, things get interesting.

I'd check the serial #'s on your equipment, if you've got them.

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

"Wayne" writes:

I can't imagine who else would break in and not take anything.

A thief who didn't find anything interesting after he broke in? A
bored kid breaking stuff for kicks? Maybe you forgot to lock it, or
it came loose (airplane locks are usually too reliable), and the door
came open....

It seems really unlikely and FBO is going to break into an airplane
just to get your name! Most everybody knows how to look up owner
names and addresses from the online FAA database.

Someone once told me about a scheme avionics thieves have used to get rid of
known hot items - they swap them. The perpetrator leaves the "hot" unit in
your plane and sells your unit as you didn't report it stolen. You might
want to check your serial numbers.

JimC

"Wayne" wrote in message
...
I was inside paying for the fuel, my girlfriend went out and found it.
She didn't tell me until I was already in the plane several times and the
preflight was done. I think if I had walked up to it first, I would have
went back in and raised hell and maybe even called the police but at that
point I figured I'd be wasting my breath.

I can't imagine who else would break in and not take anything.

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
ink.net...
Did you ask? It seems kind of odd that an FBO would do this. It is
fairly
easy to find out who owns an airplane. I would report it *immediately*
to
the FSDO. Tampering with an aircraft is a felony I believe.

Mike
MU-2

Not interested in a Garmin 196! I did lock it and it's not only that the
lock was broken, but the door was left hanging open. I would assume that had
I left it open, the guy that fueled it would have closed it, or at least
made a note of it.


A thief who didn't find anything interesting after he broke in? A
bored kid breaking stuff for kicks? Maybe you forgot to lock it, or
it came loose (airplane locks are usually too reliable), and the door
came open....

Unlikely as well that they wouldn't see someone in it. Assuming the door
was still intact in the morning when they fueled it, that meant it didn't
happen overnight. Had to be in broad daylight. Doesn't take much to break
the lock but in broad daylight and then not taking anything? Maybe whoever
it was thought they got caught and took off. No proof one way or the other,
that's one reason why I didn't say anything to them. Bored kids usually
throw stones at windows and such.
Wayne

It seems really unlikely and FBO is going to break into an airplane
just to get your name! Most everybody knows how to look up owner
names and addresses from the online FAA database.

Sound like the old eggs bread milk scam. One person goes through the
line at the grocery store and pays with a 20 with the words "Bread, Eggs,
Milk" on it. The next guy buys Bread, Eggs, and Milk, gets his change for $5
and after walking away for a few seconds comes back and says, Hey, I gave
you a twenty. No you didn't, Yeah I did, and I can prove it, I used the
twenty for a shopping list. Old one, not so sure a 5 will get that now....
Thanks for the tip though, I will have a closer look.

Wayne


Some years ago, a popular scam was to steal a radio from one airplane, and
exchange it with a like radio from another airplane. The rationale was
that the pilot whose radio is missing reports his serial# as being stolen
when it's actually installed in pilot #2's airplane. Pilot #2's radio,
which
is the one that's actually been stolen for resale, is never reported
stolen.
When pilot #2 shows up at the avionics shop with the radios stolen from
pilot #1, things get interesting.

I'd check the serial #'s on your equipment, if you've got them.

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

Wayne,

For what it's worth, I have flown out of KTTA fairly often, as a transient,
have several friends based there, and belong to a flying club also based
there.
To my knowledge nothing of this sort has ever happened there before.
I wish you had reported it to the FBO before conducting a public character
assassination in this way.

Henry Bibb


"Wayne" wrote in message
...
(snip)
sitting right there), it kind of makes me wonder. Beware of KTTA in
Sanford
NC. Either they break your stuff, or they don't notice when others do.

Wayne

In article ,
Wayne wrote:
I got there just at dark on Friday night, locked her up and left, the
line guy said he would have them fuel it up the next day. Came back Saturday
afternoon, around 4 and found my door open. Lock broken,

Wait, which door? I'm not familiar with the 175, but the standard Cessna
locking drill would be to reach across the plane (from whichever side
you're standing on) and latch the far door with the lever (which makes
it impossible to open from outside) then close and lock the door on your
side.

You said your girlfriend found it... Is it possible that the the door
you didn't lock just didn't get latched? Have you ever locked that side
from outside?

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/