Keeping Me Out of Your Warbird?

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques wrote:

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
Do restored warbirds have some sort of security system added to
keep unscrupulous members of the public such as me, from taking
one up for an unauthorized flight? Some sort of starting "key"?

What about current military aircraft?

In theory it could be done, but the pilot doing it would have to be REAL
good! :-)) Just the pre-requesites are daunting to say the least.
First, the pilot doing this would have to be good enough to actually fly
the
airplane, which not only requires specific skills but is aircraft
specific
also. That means the thief would have to know where everything is in the
cockpit....probably in the dark .
A self inspired night checkout in the average warbird would kill all but
the
most "inspired" I can assure you!! :-)))

I was hoping you or Vlado would comment.

Well I'll take your word for it. But I recall an American pilot shot
down in Europe during WWII stealing a FW 190 (IIRC). He got the thing
started and into the air (in the dark), but flew it back to England with
the gear down since he couldn't figure out how to raise it.

Is basic flying of a WWII aircraft *really* that much more difficult than
a Cessna 152? We're not talking about doing loops, barrel rolls and split
S's. Just run the plane back to my secret hideout where I'll only look
and
admire it as *my own*, as if a piece of art!

A lot of the guys have a padlock setup on their canopies or doors in the
case of multi-engine stuff. Some aircraft canopy design allows for a
hole in
the canopy track you can padlock. I never used one. Security was usually
supplied for me/ and/or the airplane was inside all the time.

But figure an aircraft worth $1 million plus, and airport security that
could not be more competent than a Nazi LW base during wartime! Seems
the opportunity for lifting one of these aircraft wouldn't be too
challenging.
As you point out, flying it, might be a bit different.

Still, you spend $1 million for your P-51, or, like Glacier Girl,
something
like $4 million on the restoration, seems adding an ignition key to start
the thing wouldn't be too prohibitive (although you might lose the "Most
Faithful Restoration" Award as a result).

Generally, the feeling in the warbird community when I was active was
that
with normal security, you really didn't spend all that much time
worrying
about someone stealing the airplane.

I think aircraft theft in general is rather rare. But still, we're
talking
about millions of dollars of value here.

There have been cases in the military of enlisted people "borrowing" an
aircraft for a joyride. I remember one incident back in the fifties when
a
crew chief was taxi testing an F86D and decided on the spot to fly it.
They
got him back down somehow and promptly arrested him. Some other idiot
"stole
a B25 down at Keesler and got it into the air somehow. He lost an
engine,
then tried a turn into his dead left engine at about 100kts. Needless to
say, he morted as the airplane went into the gulf off the beach at
Biloxi.
Bottom line....it's possible......but considering the fact that the
pilot
would first have to be current in type and motovated to steal the
airplane;
the available window for potential would be theives is quite small I
would
imagine.

I suppose so. You could never fly it safely on your own after you
successfully stole it, since there aren't that many, and the sudden
appearance of a newly painted P-51 (and even more so the more rare
P-39, P-40 or P-38) would no doubt raise suspicions.

The thief would have to be the type that just wanted to possess something
rare and beautiful for himself, like a piece of art, where he gained
pleasure and satisfaction just looking at it (as opposed to spending
a bundle on insurance, oil, gas and maintenance per hour of operation).

I guess having a P-38 painted up with "Glacier Girl" in my yard as a lawn
ornament would probably attract attention.

Well there are lots of F-16's around! Could I grab one of those without
too much problem?




Well, keep in mind that the guy who stole the 190 was current in hot props,
and who knows about the light situation. It's definitely doable by someone
like this, especially if the guy had some science background that included
using the metric system. At least he could put 2x2 together and guess at the
rest. I would say however, that this 190 guy had to be a fairly good stick,
and probably had at least some inkling of what he was doing to be able to
start the airplane. Once started, he would have been fairly at home with
basically what to do to handle it.
As for the average Cessna driver climbing into either Vlado's or my 51 and
making off with it; I don't know what Vlado would say to this, but my guess
would be a mort on takeoff, if he could even get it started! Cranking a 51
can get a bit hairy if you don't know what you're doing. The big radials,
like a 2800 or even worse a 3350 can be a nightmare fire hazard if you're
not careful, even for the "more experienced" among us!! :-))
For the the fast jets, as Ed and some others have already mentioned, they're
not all that difficult to fly, but for someone trying to steal one, it would
be a systems nightmare for the thief even if external power was available.
The thing with jets is that they are extremely prestart and start checklist
sequence oriented, and not knowing what has to be thrown at what time and
within what parameters during the start sequence would REALLY foul up a
beginner!! In the T38 for example, you just basically push the start
buttons......but it's strongly suggested that you push them at the right
time!!!!! I'm guessing a hot start if anything at all in some of these fast
jets, or an engine fire. Also, assuming the idiot got it started, and just
going through an engine start checklist in my head for the Viper, I can't
imagine anyone pulling this off......God....JFS......switch
positioning......throttle positioning......getting essential systems on line
in proper sequence.....perhaps a Chimpanzee with an unlimited life span
trying everything possible might pull it off in ten million years if the
external power unit held out that long without overheating
:-)))))........but a thief in the night who's never been in the bird
before..................I don't know Stephen..........:-)))
I do understand your 190 guy though. With his prior experience in prop
fighters and his extreme motivation, it works for me. In fact, if it had
been me, I'm fairly certain I could have pulled it off myself, or at least I
would have tried anyway :-)))
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
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