Airplane stolen at Cottonwood AZ airport 12/31/20

wanttaja said:
The trailer itself was probably the main target of the theft.

Ron Wanttaja
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:yeahthat: The thieves probably didn't even know or care what was in it... now they gotta dispose of something big and conspicuous... and could be facing federal charges... :yikes:
 
Shortly after I got my first plane my, and several other hangars, were broken into and the 172 next to mine was stolen and wrecked. My plane was in the flight schools hangar at another airport where I was taking lessons or mine would have been taken.

This took place in the Houston area and the FBI got heavily involved thinking it was an attempt by a terrorist to crash a plane into a nearby chemical plant.

In the end it was a guy that got drunk and decided to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of flying an airplane. He made it to the power lines a mile or so south of the runway. The plane hung up in the power lines by its propped and the plane hit tail-first, crushing the fuselage up to the back of the wings.

The drunk didn’t get a scratch, managed to get out of the plane and walked home. He turned himself into the local sherrif’s office after seeing a news conference by the FBI and homeland security announcing there search for the possible terrorist. He got 5- or 10-years in a federal pen.

I don’t leave my keys in my plane while it’s in my hangar like I used to.

gary
 
GaryV said:
Shortly after I got my first plane my, and several other hangars, were broken into and the 172 next to mine was stolen and wrecked. My plane was in the flight schools hangar at another airport where I was taking lessons or mine would have been taken.

This took place in the Houston area and the FBI got heavily involved thinking it was an attempt by a terrorist to crash a plane into a nearby chemical plant.

In the end it was a guy that got drunk and decided to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of flying an airplane. He made it to the power lines a mile or so south of the runway. The plane hung up in the power lines by its propped and the plane hit tail-first, crushing the fuselage up to the back of the wings.

The drunk didn’t get a scratch, managed to get out of the plane and walked home. He turned himself into the local sherrif’s office after seeing a news conference by the FBI and homeland security announcing there search for the possible terrorist. He got 5- or 10-years in a federal pen.

I don’t leave my keys in my plane while it’s in my hangar like I used to.

gary
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https://www.chron.com/news/houston-...unken-birthday-led-to-plane-caper-1523434.php

The guy has been arrested multiple times since for some pretty serious charges. He got 6 years for the plane heist.
 
GaryV said:
Shortly after I got my first plane my, and several other hangars, were broken into and the 172 next to mine was stolen and wrecked. My plane was in the flight schools hangar at another airport where I was taking lessons or mine would have been taken.

This took place in the Houston area and the FBI got heavily involved thinking it was an attempt by a terrorist to crash a plane into a nearby chemical plant.

In the end it was a guy that got drunk and decided to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of flying an airplane. He made it to the power lines a mile or so south of the runway. The plane hung up in the power lines by its propped and the plane hit tail-first, crushing the fuselage up to the back of the wings.

The drunk didn’t get a scratch, managed to get out of the plane and walked home. He turned himself into the local sherrif’s office after seeing a news conference by the FBI and homeland security announcing there search for the possible terrorist. He got 5- or 10-years in a federal pen.

I don’t leave my keys in my plane while it’s in my hangar like I used to.

gary
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Wow. 5-10 year? Under state law it seems like a theft of that value would be a lot less.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
Wow. 5-10 year? Under state law it seems like a theft of that value would be a lot less.
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Broke into 16 hangars. Earlier burglary charge and had other brushes with the law, including driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and unauthorized use of a vehicle. So it wasn't a one off thing.
 
This is where I based at when doing my photo shoots in Sedona. In fact, I parked right there a few times to use the restroom that is on the end of the hangars.

90
 
WDD said:
Wouldn’t it be a federal problem - not state?
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I had assumed that and that that was one of the reasons the penalty was so severe. However, not so sure now. Is it a Federal crime to steal something off an airport necessarily? Seems like a common law theft.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
I had assumed that and that that was one of the reasons the penalty was so severe. However, not so sure now. Is it a Federal crime to steal something off an airport necessarily? Seems like a common law theft.
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Technically, although my Google has failed me at the moment, pretty much anything "Aviation" is under federal rule and treated as a federal crime. Often times the FBI will defer the investigation and prosecution to the local law enforcement in minor cases.
 
Maybe the thief just wanted to put a trigear Kitfox out of its misery...
 
Lord help me, I've been looking at a tricycle gear Maule for a photo plane... I used one before and it's so easy to fly it seems to fit the Cessna slogan of land-o-matic.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Lord help me, I've been looking at a tricycle gear Maule for a photo plane... I used one before and it's so easy to fly it seems to fit the Cessna slogan of land-o-matic.
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I did a demo flight in a tri gear Maule one time...the salesman said I was the first person he’d Demo’d to that didn’t touch down nose wheel first. :eek:
 
MauleSkinner said:
I did a demo flight in a tri gear Maule one time...the salesman said I was the first person he’d Demo’d to that didn’t touch down nose wheel first. :eek:
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Strange. I never had that problem! It was a great flying plane.
 
GaryV said:
Shortly after I got my first plane my, and several other hangars, were broken into and the 172 next to mine was stolen and wrecked. My plane was in the flight schools hangar at another airport where I was taking lessons or mine would have been taken.

This took place in the Houston area and the FBI got heavily involved thinking it was an attempt by a terrorist to crash a plane into a nearby chemical plant.

In the end it was a guy that got drunk and decided to fulfill his lifelong fantasy of flying an airplane. He made it to the power lines a mile or so south of the runway. The plane hung up in the power lines by its propped and the plane hit tail-first, crushing the fuselage up to the back of the wings.
Click to expand...

I remember that well. Nobody knew what had happened, since the airplane was found hanging in the wires with nobody around. They found an open hangar and put the pieces together eventually...
 
IK04 said:
They found an open hangar and put the pieces together eventually...
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All the King's men couldn't put the plane back together again. Have you let the King's horses try?
 
I found the airplane and the trailer if anyone is still interested.
 
This is a bit long... I own a plastic injection molding company in Colorado Springs. There was a trailer next to the building with an airplane in it that needed engine work for some old guy. Right after I acquired the company I found that the COO had been committing civil theft, I fired him. While cleaning out his desk found divorce papers with some photos of the airplane in the trailer. He had moved it off property by then. Didn't think anything of it. I sued the guy got a judgment went in for a property seizure. Flew a drone over his house and saw the trailer and was excited to nab that as well $$$. The day before I wanted to get my **** together I just happened to google the airplanes that we were seizing and there was this thread. Seizure July 24th got the trailer, confirmed it was the aircraft and called the Cottonwood PD. Colorado Springs PD has the trailer now. Owner has been notified. Oddly enough the Sheriff who has jurisdiction over this person that had the airplane isn't very interested in finding out why he had it. I want to speak to the owner.
 
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