Theft among friends

A friend recently told me that his Cobra trailer had been broken into while
parked for several months at an Arizona glider port.

The thief, used a key to open and then relock the trailer (no surprise here,
my Cobra trailer key fits his trailer too - - I'm innocent in this case
though). The only item stolen was his one-man-rigging kit. No other damage
was done. The thief obviously knew what he wanted and took just that.

The thing that amazes me most is that all indications mean it was "one of
us" who did this. I find this difficult to accept.

Comments?

all the best,

--
bumper ZZ (reverse all after @)
"Dare to be different . . . circle in sink."

Were there any indications the trailer had actually been broken into?
Is it possible your friend simply forgot the one-man-rig somewhere? I
find it hard to believe someone will break into a trailer just to steal
a one-man-rig, and then relock the trailer.
Maybe someone borrowed it and forgot to put it back?

Ramy

Since 1972 I've been stiffed by exactly 1 person engaged in soaring.

She had a friend win a free ride from our club, and got so enthused herself
to (promise to) buy one, that was never paid for ($30 check returned for
insufficient funds; business phone disconnected soon thereafter).

Perhaps a close call occurred when another owned (or said he did) the St'd
Cirrus trailing him when it/he appeared on the field, and which needed a TE
tube that I gave him in return for promise of payment which was made a week
or so later, while the (transient) Cirrus quickly disappeared from the
field, soon to be followed by a repo man asking about the Cirrus.

Haven't seen either person since.

While the active participants of soaring certainly seem biased toward the
better side of average, they're still human.

Bob - not in the commercial glider business - Whelan
- - - - - -

"bumper" wrote in message
...
A friend recently told me that his Cobra trailer had been broken into
while
parked for several months at an Arizona glider port.

The thief, used a key to open and then relock the trailer (no surprise
here,
my Cobra trailer key fits his trailer too - - I'm innocent in this case
though). The only item stolen was his one-man-rigging kit. No other damage
was done. The thief obviously knew what he wanted and took just that.

The thing that amazes me most is that all indications mean it was "one of
us" who did this. I find this difficult to accept.

Comments?

I live and fly in Arizona. Whenever I leave to fly I leave (at the
gliderport) a $45,000 vehicle usually with several thousands of radios,
laptop and handheld GPS's in it along with an unlocked trailer. The keys
are in the car in plain sight. This is the practice of everyone here.
Maybe as someone else suggested the one man rigging system was either
misplaced or possibly used and forgotten to return. But then who could hide
something like that unless they took it out of state?

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

"bumper" wrote in message
...
A friend recently told me that his Cobra trailer had been broken into while
parked for several months at an Arizona glider port.

The thief, used a key to open and then relock the trailer (no surprise
here, my Cobra trailer key fits his trailer too - - I'm innocent in this
case though). The only item stolen was his one-man-rigging kit. No other
damage was done. The thief obviously knew what he wanted and took just
that.

The thing that amazes me most is that all indications mean it was "one of
us" who did this. I find this difficult to accept.

Comments?

all the best,

--
bumper ZZ (reverse all after @)
"Dare to be different . . . circle in sink."

Some observations:
1. Cobra & Komet only use about 6 different key sets. I learned this
from 20 years in the repair business. If an owner failed to leave his
keys, no problem, we would have it open in a flash.
2. Most owners fail to properly latch the aft lock. It must be rotated
90 degrees and then locked. Otherwise you only locked it in the
*unlocked* position, simply unlatch the side clamps and open it up.
3. Glider pilots are a cross-section of our population, no better or
worse. I have been given bad checks, asked to install a radio that was
obviously stolen (wires cut) right beside the plug and stiffed on a
final bill, airline pilots are the worst :)
Trust, but verify and lock those trailers.
JJ

Look for the guy who rigs before dawn! :-)

Larry "zero one"

"Kilo Charlie" NOSPAMkilocharlie.cox.net wrote in message
news:vnSFe.166586$Qo.117923@fed1read01:

I live and fly in Arizona. Whenever I leave to fly I leave (at the
gliderport) a $45,000 vehicle usually with several thousands of radios,
laptop and handheld GPS's in it along with an unlocked trailer. The keys
are in the car in plain sight. This is the practice of everyone here.
Maybe as someone else suggested the one man rigging system was either
misplaced or possibly used and forgotten to return. But then who could hide
something like that unless they took it out of state?

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

"bumper" wrote in message
...
A friend recently told me that his Cobra trailer had been broken into while
parked for several months at an Arizona glider port.

The thief, used a key to open and then relock the trailer (no surprise
here, my Cobra trailer key fits his trailer too - - I'm innocent in this
case though). The only item stolen was his one-man-rigging kit. No other
damage was done. The thief obviously knew what he wanted and took just
that.

The thing that amazes me most is that all indications mean it was "one of
us" who did this. I find this difficult to accept.

Comments?

all the best,

--
bumper ZZ (reverse all after @)
"Dare to be different . . . circle in sink."

JJ Sinclair wrote:

3. Glider pilots are a cross-section of our population, no better or
worse. I have been given bad checks, asked to install a radio that was
obviously stolen (wires cut) right beside the plug and stiffed on a
final bill, airline pilots are the worst :)
Trust, but verify and lock those trailers.
JJ


How about pouring a bucket of sugar into a Cessna fuel system during
the night. This is what happened in our hangar...
It turned out when the engine stopped during take-off. It was few
years ago and we still don't know who did it.

/Jancsika

How about pouring a bucket of sugar into a Cessna fuel system during
the night. This is what happened in our hangar...
It turned out when the engine stopped during take-off. It was few years
ago and we still don't know who did it.

My guess is that you were operating at an airport with a lot of power
traffic. MITSA had some one pour sand into the oil filler of their
Cessna 150/180 tow plane. It was assumed (but not known) that a
disgruntled local power pilot was the culprit. The engine, of course,
turned into scrap metal after it was started.

Tony V.

At 13:55 28 July 2005, Bumper wrote:
A friend recently told me that his Cobra trailer had
been broken into while
parked for several months at an Arizona glider port.

The thief, used a key to open and then relock the trailer
(no surprise here,
my Cobra trailer key fits his trailer too - - I'm innocent
in this case
though). The only item stolen was his one-man-rigging
kit. No other damage
was done. The thief obviously knew what he wanted and
took just that.


I gotta get out to the airport to check on something...

9B (visiting in AZ)