Hangar Burglary

This is EXACTLY why I have a camera that uploads to cloud storage 24 hours a day.. I get notifications on my phone.. makes me feel better
 
Dav8or said:
Wow. You are seriously paranoid.

What's that sound??!! Better run to the panic room, I think government agents are at your back door!!!
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Paflyer should just read James' post: apparently according to James, the cops are too lazy for a frame-up.
 
tawood said:
Paflyer should just read James' post: apparently according to James, the cops are too lazy for a frame-up.
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Not ones wanting to be CIA agents.
 
Sorry to hear, Jack, that truly sucks. I had been expecting this to happen. It is very easy for crooks to walk right in (no gate) or jump the small fence (if they are too lazy to walk around to find the wide-open gate).

I have been saying for years that I dread the day when crooks realize what a GNS goes for on the market ...

Too bad you are at a public airport and cannot set a bear trap just inside your hangar door. :(
 
TCABM said:
That sucks Jack. I’m sorry this happened to you.

Anyone ever consider putting something like a simplysafe system in their hanger? Since I don’t own and don’t have a hangar, I haven’t put much thought into that side of the equation.
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I have Simplisafe in my house. Love the fact that they are more about home safety instead of all the other alarm companies that were more interested in signing me up for long term contracted monthly payments.

And no land line needed.
 
Skip putting the "last four of your SSN" on stuff. . .if you got the last four, it's no big lift to deduce the first five. First three are usually geo, and the middle two have a limited set of number combinations.

Weirdly enough, SSNs aren't all unique, either. . .
 
Bummer Jack. T’is the season, broke ass pilot needs cash for the commercialization of the holidays...

Dav8or said:
More likely an aviation habit. These things were taken by a pilot, or student pilot, or a wanna be pilot. These really aren't fenceable items. t illustrated, criminals like airplanes too and flying is expensive.
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My second pair of Aviation headsets in the early 90s was found hanging in a pawn shop on the wall with all the stereo headsets. Pawn shop said $20, so I paid and left before the guy figured out what he sold me. Those were my backups for a number of years and had stereo audio, which was rare back then. Softcoms I think they were? Long gone.

paflyer said:
Remind me what (police) states I don't want to live in.

Edit: Here they are:
California, Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, and Georgia

Apparently Texas dropped it recently.
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No idea why here, either but it’s annoying. But like Clark, I’ve been fingerprinted and run through the FBI database and NCIC so many times for other things, it doesn’t matter much.

At least the DMV did them digitally, instead of the usual having to go to the Sheriff’s office with a card and rolling my fingers around in goo to prove once again, that I’m not a criminal, to whichever bureaucracy wants to know this time...

Didn’t look like they bother to wipe off the readers, ever, so you can enjoy thinking about where everyone else’s index fingers have been. Oh, and it was only index fingers, interestingly. The bureaucracy doesn’t have time to scan all ten or eleven or whatever you’ve got. :)

Lowflynjack said:
I have a standard door knob that would go on a house
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If a typical one like a Kwikset, that’s less than ten seconds with a bump key. Usually about three bumps is all, really.

I’d at least put something on there that wouldn’t stop the dude from coming back for more, but would at least slow them down a bit more than one of those.

Doubt they picked it. Picking one is only about 30 seconds, max, though. Same with almost every padlock made by Master or most brands sold in big box stores. I’m surprised you found it open, though.

Most thieves just bring something heavy and smack the handle off of the common residential style Kwickset stuff. Snap the door handle off, pull the guts out, and without a deadbolt, they’re in. Someone would make some noise doing that and have to carry something heavy around with them, but a short sledge or deadblow hammer would make quick work of it.

GlennAB1 said:
We have Ring. Just the infrared lights coming on intimidates everyone that notices them. Its fun to watch the videos (stored on cloud).
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Friend had his catch a UPS driver throwing his new coffee pot to the porch from five or six feet away, and lobbing it, breaking not only the coffee pot, but splitting the entire coffee maker down the middle.

UPS was “investigating” last I heard. LOL. He watched the recording of the schmuck doing it when he was reviewing the day’s recordings while he was away on a business trip.
 
James331 said:
$5 says the cops don't even run the prints, presuming they didn't screw up taking them, also between DUIs and tickets there isn't much excitement or money to be made recovering your property.
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James, what is your beef with the police? You never miss an opportunity to throw in a jab.

I'm pretty confident the prints will get ran, assuming the prints are clear enough. Leaving a clear enough print to actually run isn't as easy as TV makes it out to be. Also, reference the 'DUI's and tickets' comment, most agencies have a separate burglary investigation unit. They don't do 'DUI's and tickets' so there wont be a conflict there. Not that you care anyway. That doesn't fit your anti-police agenda.
 
most hangar doors are opened pretty easily with a credit card. I forget my keys all the time and fall back to that.
 
jesse said:
most hangar doors are opened pretty easily with a credit card. I forget my keys all the time and fall back to that.
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<Mental note to file, in case someone ever needs to quickly get into Jesse’s hangar>

;)
 
JCranford said:
James, what is your beef with the police? You never miss an opportunity to throw in a jab.

I'm pretty confident the prints will get ran, assuming the prints are clear enough. Leaving a clear enough print to actually run isn't as easy as TV makes it out to be. Also, reference the 'DUI's and tickets' comment, most agencies have a separate burglary investigation unit. They don't do 'DUI's and tickets' so there wont be a conflict there. Not that you care anyway. That doesn't fit your anti-police agenda.
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Just the police have been a huge disappointment in my experience.

They don't solve crime, just show up later and document it and give you a useless report, shy of someone coming in and confessing, or forgetting their government issued photo ID at a crime scene they don't catch anything other than "speeders" expired registrations and drivers licenses, even as a law abiding guy I've had more police point guns at me for no damn reason than criminals.
 
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James331 said:
Just the police have been a huge disappointment in my experience.

They don't solve crime, just show up later and document it and give you a useless report, shy of someone comming in a confession or forgetting their government issued photo ID at a crime scene they don't catch anything other than "speeders" expired registrations and drivers licenses, even as a law abiding guy I've had more police point guns at me for no damn reason than criminals.
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As far as fingerprints go, they flat out tell you it won't do much good around here. They depend on the State to process them and a hangar burglary ranks pretty low on their scale of crimes. It is simply a measure to nail the coffin shut if they catch them in the future. I will say this officer was very nice and thorough.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Sorry, I've been at the airport. The police came out and finished fingerprinting. The officer got an urgent call yesterday and had to leave. There have been a lot of questions since I last posted.

The airport has a fence around it, but the gates are manual and always open. Not sure if any future plans have card access gates in the plans. As much as this sucks for me, I really don't want to limit access to the airport as I think that is part of the decline in GA. I would prefer cameras and signs saying there are cameras.

I have a standard door knob that would go on a house

In Texas, fingerprints are sent to the State Troopers. They are way behind and a small theft at a small airport won't rank high on their priorities. If they catch someone, fingerprints are useful to prove they were in the hangar, not so much to track someone down.

I'm going to put a game camera in my hangar, so at least I might get a photo. I'm about to move to a new hangar at the same airport. I will put a deadbolt on it in case they were able to pick this lock. There doesn't seem to be evidence of any prying or any scratches on the knob or door.

One of my headsets was a Bose A20, one was a DC Pro X. They are easy to sell, I've sold a few. I don't know the serial numbers since I don't have the original boxes. I will watch Craigslist, but on Ebay I wouldn't recognize mine from anyone else's.
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Would you be able to put a security system in your hangar? some door/window sensors, maybe a motion sensor that will sound a siren when breached?
 
sferguson524 said:
Would you be able to put a security system in your hangar? some door/window sensors, maybe a motion sensor that will sound a siren when breached?
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I could do something like that, but there is no internet, so it would just be an audible alarm that you would home would scare them away. I'm honestly not that worried about it. I'll have a new hangar soon and I'll add a deadbolt. Maybe I won't leave my headsets behind, but honestly the most expensive thing in there is, of course, my plane. It's insured. A game camera is about as far as I plan to go.
 
Lowflynjack said:
I could do something like that, but there is no internet, so it would just be an audible alarm that you would home would scare them away. I'm honestly not that worried about it. I'll have a new hangar soon and I'll add a deadbolt. Maybe I won't leave my headsets behind, but honestly the most expensive thing in there is, of course, my plane. It's insured. A game camera is about as far as I plan to go.
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FYI. Internet isn't required for a good alarm system, or a land line. Just cell phone service which can't be disabled by cutting the phone line. Unless you want security cameras that you can view on the cell phone or internet.

I like alarms that make a LOT of noise and flash several lights and notify me if that happens.

I learned a lesson last night. I have a stand alone panic button for my alarm system. DO NOT lay these flat. The cat will walk on it at 3am..... And I had to explain that to the monitoring company. I swear I heard muffled laughing in the back ground.....
 
Zeldman said:
FYI. Internet isn't required for a good alarm system, or a land line. Just cell phone service which can't be disabled by cutting the phone line. Unless you want security cameras that you can view on the cell phone or internet.

I like alarms that make a LOT of noise and flash several lights and notify me if that happens.

I learned a lesson last night. I have a stand alone panic button for my alarm system. DO NOT lay these flat. The cat will walk on it at 3am..... And I had to explain that to the monitoring company. I swear I heard muffled laughing in the back ground.....
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The cat is laughing it's ass off at you right now.
 
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Zeldman said:
I have a stand alone panic button for my alarm system. DO NOT lay these flat.
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And, do not be at the top of the list at the alarm company for your church. "Don't call the police, I'll go look first." Effing motion sensors...
 
Lowflynjack said:
I could do something like that, but there is no internet, so it would just be an audible alarm that you would home would scare them away. I'm honestly not that worried about it. I'll have a new hangar soon and I'll add a deadbolt. Maybe I won't leave my headsets behind, but honestly the most expensive thing in there is, of course, my plane. It's insured. A game camera is about as far as I plan to go.
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https://www.arlo.com/en-us/products/arlo-go/default.aspx
 
James331 said:
Just the police have been a huge disappointment in my experience.

They don't solve crime, just show up later and document it and give you a useless report, shy of someone coming in and confessing, or forgetting their government issued photo ID at a crime scene they don't catch anything other than "speeders" expired registrations and drivers licenses, even as a law abiding guy I've had more police point guns at me for no damn reason than criminals.
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In DFW they have investigators whose only job it is to go between area pawn shops looking for stolen/missing items. Pretty sure they aren't idle to say the least. What should they do, question the door as to who went through? If anyone saw it happen they would have come forward by now. What do you propose they do instead?
 
Lowflynjack said:
One of my headsets was a Bose A20, one was a DC Pro X. They are easy to sell, I've sold a few. I don't know the serial numbers since I don't have the original boxes. I will watch Craigslist, but on Ebay I wouldn't recognize mine from anyone else's.
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Don't know about David Clarke, but if you bought your A20 direct from Bose, they will probably have your serial number on record and can give it to you.

Who knows, maybe they can flag that serial number so that if anyone ever sends it in for a refurb, it can get confiscated and returned to you.
 
Anymouse said:
Don't know about David Clarke, but if you bought your A20 direct from Bose, they will probably have your serial number on record and can give it to you.

Who knows, maybe they can flag that serial number so that if anyone ever sends it in for a refurb, it can get confiscated and returned to you.
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Good idea. If it had a warranty card that you filled out and sent, they will definitely have the s/n.
 
overdrive148 said:
In DFW they have investigators whose only job it is to go between area pawn shops looking for stolen/missing items. Pretty sure they aren't idle to say the least. What should they do, question the door as to who went through? If anyone saw it happen they would have come forward by now. What do you propose they do instead?
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Nah, I'd settle for just doing actual police work, not being a mixture of road pirates and meter maids.

Cars getting stolen, dust for prints, ask around for video cameras in the area, knock on doors and see if anyone saw anything, actually run the prints, talk to people who were convicted of similar crimes, set up bait cars, etc.
 
James331 said:
Nah, I'd settle for just doing actual police work, not being a mixture of road pirates and meter maids.

Cars getting stolen, dust for prints, ask around for video cameras in the area, knock on doors and see if anyone saw anything, actually run the prints, talk to people who were convicted of similar crimes, set up bait cars, etc.
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You just described my typical day...
But you left out the part of my day where I plant paflyer’s fingerprints around my crime scenes.
 
Trail cams are a cheap investment. I have two in my hangar, one of which wirelessly transmits photos on 3G. So even if they see and take the cameras, too, one is constantly uploading photos. Hopefully he looks right into the lens.
 
We had a issue over in Houston. There was a guy who was on the Houston pilots' Facebook group. He claimed to be a pilot and would always bum rides with folks. Shortly after people would fly with the guy, headsets or avionics would disappear. He was also selling stuff on the group for ridiculous prices--Bose headsets for $400. The cheap selling started raising some red flags. Then we had an avionics shop get robbed. I forget the value of the avionics stolen. I believe it was a couple of $100K worth of avionics. From the story told, the thief also stole an iPad. The avionics shop activated the "find my iPad" app. They presented the information to the police. The police said there was nothing they could do about it without better cause or some nonsense. The owner of the avionics shop drove to the thief's house. The guy had the garage open with all of the avionics laying out in plain sight. He called the police, and that was enough for them. It was all a very strange situation.
 
fishhog said:
We had a issue over in Houston. There was a guy who was on the Houston pilots' Facebook group. He claimed to be a pilot and would always bum rides with folks. Shortly after people would fly with the guy, headsets or avionics would disappear. He was also selling stuff on the group for ridiculous prices--Bose headsets for $400. The cheap selling started raising some red flags. Then we had an avionics shop get robbed. I forget the value of the avionics stolen. I believe it was a couple of $100K worth of avionics. From the story told, the thief also stole an iPad. The avionics shop activated the "find my iPad" app. They presented the information to the police. The police said there was nothing they could do about it without better cause or some nonsense. The owner of the avionics shop drove to the thief's house. The guy had the garage open with all of the avionics laying out in plain sight. He called the police, and that was enough for them. It was all a very strange situation.
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Glad they caught the bastid.

Someone broke into our Prius a few weeks back. They tried to get into my Kia but only broke off the keyless entry pad, which I had to replace with a plain one. Not sure what they were after. Punks.
 
N659HB said:
Glad they caught the bastid.

Someone broke into our Prius a few weeks back. They tried to get into my Kia but only broke off the keyless entry pad, which I had to replace with a plain one. Not sure what they were after. Punks.
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m&ms you left in thar
 
N659HB said:
Glad they caught the bastid.

Someone broke into our Prius a few weeks back. They tried to get into my Kia but only broke off the keyless entry pad, which I had to replace with a plain one. Not sure what they were after. Punks.
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Well I'd wager it wasn't guns or scotch lol
 
Yesterday was interesting. At least two more people have had their hangars burglarized. Not sure if they happened the same day as mine and they just now discovered them or if it's a new crime. There were two hangars that were robbed and they had deep scratches at the top of the door, on the door knob side. The police believe they pushed in the top of the door, and slid something down to pop the latch open or pull the door handle. There is one other hangar that has the marks and they've asked that guy to come out and check his plane, but he didn't make it out yesterday, so we don't know. Oddly, my hangar doesn't have these scratches on the door. Also odd, all hangars that we know were hit were on the corners of the hangars, where the security lights are mounted.

They have one person of interest, not really a suspect, but someone they will talk to. They took a lot more prints and assigned a detective to the case, so we'll see if anything happens. Let's just hope this is the end of it. For some reason, as of now anyway, the City won't call all of the hangar tenants and have them come check hangars. As rarely as some of these guys fly, it could take months to figure out who all was hit. I've notified everyone I know at least.
 
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