RootsAir From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4179 posts, RR: 45 Posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 5341 times:
Hi, this is a question that has been going on for a while!
As you know, there are always plane cleaners that go on board and put ordrer in the aircraft. These people are those with the best access to the airplane and could thus force open the cockpit.However other people working in the airport or pretending to work there could also break into an airplane.
This leads to the question: has there ever been a stolen airliner or an attempt to steal one?
This might seem a stupid question but it may have already been the case though I'm sure they won't go too far....
A man without the knowledge of his past history,culture and origins is like a tree without roots
SimProgrammer From France, joined Aug 2004, 180 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 5291 times:
I recall a story about 15 years ago where a child had strolled into the cockpit of a KLM 74x and managed to start one of the engines. By the time officials arrived he was pondering his next move.
Airliners are kinda hard to steal... but if you include hijacked planes - are these effectively stolen property?
ACYWG From Canada, joined Feb 2005, 265 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 5226 times:
There was a bunch of Kuwait Airlines planes that were stolen by the Iraqi's during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The planes were flown back to Iraq and repainted to disguise them if I remember right. It was an a issue of Airliner World a couple of months back.
CitationJet From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2235 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 5133 times:
I know for a fact that a new LearJet 36 was stolen from the factory in Wichita, KS. It happened the night before it was scheduled to be delivered to the customer. This happened about 25 years ago, and I don't believe that it was ever recovered. It was believed to have headed south to Mexico or South America. This is a well known story in Wichita, KS. I am not sure if it was ever reported in the news.
FriendlySkies From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 4006 posts, RR: 6 Reply 7, posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 4853 times:
MxCtrlr From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 2485 posts, RR: 40 Reply 8, posted (8 years 1 week 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 4762 times:
Years ago, back at QH, we had a 737-200 in the process of being stolen from HPN. If it wasn't for an alert mechanic who called into Ops to find out why we were moving the aircraft early, it most likely would have been taken - The "crew" was in the final stages of their pre-flight checklist when apprehended.
Maybe OPNLGuy can shed some more light on this incident?
MxCtrlr
[Edited 2005-05-12 05:09:11]
DAMN! This SUCKS! I just had to go to the next higher age bracket in my profile! :-(
A340Spotter From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 1973 posts, RR: 26 Reply 9, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 4584 times:
MxCtrlr,
QH? Which airline was that if you don't mind...that wasn't Nations Air and the infamous Viscount repo that went awry was it?
Jeffrey
"Irregardless, it's a Cat III airplane, we don't need an alternate!"
For whatever reason, SunCoast weren't able to commence operations with this aircraft, and didn't pay the lease costs to AIC. Each airline blamed the other for the situation.
As AIC still had to pay their leasing fees to ILFC this was causing some cashflow issues for them, and they decided to repossess the aircraft though without following the correct process - in other words they tried to steal their own aircraft back.
They were thwarted in their efforts and were not able to steal the aircraft back.
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31201 posts, RR: 58 Reply 12, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 4441 times:
Quoting RootsAir (Thread starter): other people working in the airport or pretending to work there could also break into an airplane.
Ever heard of "Police Verification" prior to being alloted an Airport pass
Quoting SimProgrammer (Reply 3): I recall a story about 15 years ago where a child had strolled into the cockpit of a KLM 74x and managed to start one of the engines. By the time officials arrived he was pondering his next
Washfam From United States of America, joined Apr 2003, 14 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 4288 times:
I had a Falcon 20 stolen while I was on duty.
In 1989, I was attending ERAU in Daytona and working line at Daytona Beach Aviation (soon to become Daytona Beach Jet Center). I was the graveyard shift supervisor, which meant that it was just me on line service and the mechanics working on Riddle birds.
Around 2300 hrs, I buzzed this pilot through the gate, he paid the parking fee & fuel (cash!) and said that 'they' would be in the aircraft for while so I did not need to pull the chocks or marshall them out. That was alright with me because I was expecting Continental's EWR-DAB-MRB flight any minute and they always needed a splash of Jet-A (B737-200 or 100 sometimes). The Falcon 20 eventually took off while I was under the wing of the 737.
The thief was a recently fired pilot for the company that owned the plane.
Police questioned me the next day.
I think that they found the plane in Louisiana (I'm not sure.)
Keta From Germany, joined Mar 2005, 440 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 4229 times:
I've heard that in Colombia and Venezuela many planes were stolen, but they were basically smaller planes such as TurboCommanders and King Airs. A friend of mine, Carlos Flores, from Venezuela, wrote this on another forum:
"(...) sadly, this gorgeous lady was stolen on June of 1992 from the airport we'll be arriving to this flight "Caracas Machado Zuloaga" SVCS so who knows where she ended, doing what ....that was in fact a period of time when many birds were stolen, preferred airplanes for the bad guys were Cessna Stationairs and Caravan Is, Rockwell TurboCommanders and King Airs..some of them were kidnapped in flight after "costumers" contracted a charter flight and once in the air they took control of the planes and pilots... some good friends of mine were taken with the planes and let them free after many days, some of them had to walk for days through a jungle and stuff"
Bearcuban12 From Germany, joined Mar 2005, 89 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 4204 times:
Someone may correct me on the finer details, but I believe that some WestJet aircraft were "stolen" back by the owners of west jet during some maintenance in the USA.
The creditirs were going to repo the aircraft , so WestJet "borrowed" the aircraft for a test flight, but then flew to Canada instead, thus thwarting the Repo mans attempts to get the aircraft.....
Alessandro From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 4182 times:
Adding one from Sweden, a piss-head from North Sweden wanted to go
to Mallorca, so he went to the airport and boarded one SAAB 340 and managed to
retract the landing gear! I think it was a complete write-off....
Yeggerman From Canada, joined Mar 2005, 143 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 4045 times:
Quoting Bearcuban12 (Reply 15): Someone may correct me on the finer details, but I believe that some WestJet aircraft were "stolen" back by the owners of west jet during some maintenance in the USA.
The creditirs were going to repo the aircraft , so WestJet "borrowed" the aircraft for a test flight, but then flew to Canada instead, thus thwarting the Repo mans attempts to get the aircraft.....
I'm not sure what airline you are thinking of, but WestJet has never had problems with creditors, and does not have a maintenance bases anywhere in the USA, so I am not sure where this story is coming from or if you may just have the airline name mistaken.
Lapper From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 1507 posts, RR: 8 Reply 19, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 3921 times:
Not sure if it was stolen or on a passenger flight, but in Southern Africa a few years back, a disgruntled pilot rammed his plane into a few others rendering the airline unable to operate a lot of its' timetable for some time.
Bearcuban12 From Germany, joined Mar 2005, 89 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3891 times:
Quoting Yeggerman (Reply 17): Quoting Bearcuban12 (Reply 15):
Someone may correct me on the finer details, but I believe that some WestJet aircraft were "stolen" back by the owners of west jet during some maintenance in the USA.
The creditirs were going to repo the aircraft , so WestJet "borrowed" the aircraft for a test flight, but then flew to Canada instead, thus thwarting the Repo mans attempts to get the aircraft.....
I'm not sure what airline you are thinking of, but WestJet has never had problems with creditors, and does not have a maintenance bases anywhere in the USA, so I am not sure where this story is coming from or if you may just have the airline name mistaken.
Yeggerman, - I did some research and I was half right...
In early 1998, WestJet was having a B737 overhauled by Santa Barbara aerospace. The short version of events is that they made a complete mess of it, damaging the skin of the aircraft. Boeing verified that SBA had skipped som crucial steps in the o/haul proceedure, and WestJet ordered SBA to cease all work. It became clear to the management of WestJet that SBA had been making false time sheet claims in order to have WestJet take them to court and SBA would have retained the aircraft whilst any litigation proceedures about the billing ensued.
One of the WestJet employees (Tim Morgan) arrived at SBA with the WestJet chief pilot saying that they were "ready to take the aircraft for a test ride".
WestJet secretly filled in a flightplan to Santa Maria and then to Calgary.
SBA got suspicious about the flight and instructed two of its employees to travel with the aircraft, knowing that WestJet could not take US Citizens to Canada. WestJet reluctantly obliged and took the 2 employees.
The plan from Westjet was to declare a mid-air emergency and fly to nearby Santa Maria, offload the 2 employees and then fly to Calgary.
All ran off without a hitch. The B737 departed santa Maria for Calgary, and the two SBA employees were given usd $ 200 to get a taxi back home. They promptly spent it in a local bar and were fired by SBA the next day, and then re-instated when SBA realised they would need them as witnesses if the case went to court.
Cedarjet From United Kingdom, joined exactly 14 years ago today! , 7707 posts, RR: 55 Reply 21, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3867 times:
An East African Airways DC9 was stolen in Tanzania, not sure how long it was missing, but yep, it happened - a couple of pilots turn up, unchock the gear, haul in the steps, door slams shut, start up, taxi, takeoff, going going gone.
fly Saha Air 707s daily from Tehran's downtown Mehrabad to Mashhad, Kish Island and Ahwaz
MidnightMike From United States of America, joined Mar 2003, 2892 posts, RR: 16 Reply 22, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 3798 times:
DB Cooper!
*********************************************************
In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked and threatened to blow up an airliner, extorted $200,000 from its owner, Northwest Orient, then leaped from the airborne 727 with 21 pounds of $20 bills strapped to his torso.
***********************************************************
OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 23, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 3785 times:
Quoting MxCtrlr (Reply 8): Years ago, back at QH, we had a 737-200 in the process of being stolen from HPN. If it wasn't for an alert mechanic who called into Ops to find out why we were moving the aircraft early, it most likely would have been taken - The "crew" was in the final stages of their pre-flight checklist when apprehended.
Maybe OPNLguy can shed some more light on this incident?
I don't recall that one, but then again, I left in May 1982, and it could have happened between then and the eventual shutdown...
Someone mentioned the ex-AA 727-200 that was missing in Africa. The following link will take folks to a threadd that's been running on pprune for *2 years* now, and it's got the most complete info I've seen on the subject...
Trolley Dolley From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (8 years 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 3645 times:
Cedarjet, you are quite right about the stolen DC9 belonging to East African Airways. It was stolen, empty, at around midnight on September 14, 1970 by a former EAAC First Officer, flown from Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania to the, then, new airport at Kilmanjaro. The plan was to use the aircraft in a coup to overthrow Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin. The DC9 was to be used as a "troop" carrier. In the course of the flight, the thief managed to depressurise the cabin, land fast and so smooth the landing was not detected on the FDR, then botch the landing once the runway, ending up slewing the aircraft through a 90 degree turn, bursting the tires and... wait for it... empty the contents of each armchair ashtray throughout the cabin. You could still drag on a fag in the cabin back then.
The full story is in a book by Peter Davis on EAAC.
25 Luisde8cd: That's true. When the Colombian cartels were at their height in the late 80s, early 90s, they stole many GA planes here in Venezuela and flew them to
27 KaiGywer: A couple of years ago, several airliners got broken into at BGO. I know one SK and one WF for sure. Some dude jumped the fence, rolled the airstars u
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