In their fight against global warming fanatical environmentalists have spray-painted a corporate jet and glued themselves to its wings. How much further will this flight shaming movement go?

Climate activists broke into the grounds of Germany's Sylt Airport on Tuesday by breaking down a gate and then painted a Cessna Citation private jet orange. Then they glued themselves to the wings with one hand and displayed banners.

The police eventually put an end to the action and arrested the activists. They were released the same day, but a criminal investigation hangs over them. It is not yet clear how extensive (and expensive) the damage to the device is.

These were supporters of 'Letzte Generation', a group of radicalized climate activists. According to them, private jets contribute to the demise of the earth.

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/ ... n-vleugels

I suggest to change the thread title: idiots damage business jet. At least this time they found a real business jet. Last time they just damaged a poor Piper Aztec and claimed they would punish business jet owners…

Can anyone estimate the cost for repainting this jet?

Paint job on that would be $100,000 US.

Damage is said to be 200K $ due to the engines being damaged.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Paint job on that would be $100,000 US.

Does insurance cover that?

N14AZ wrote:

I suggest to change the thread title: idiots damage business jet. At least this time they found a real business jet. Last time they just damaged a poor Piper Aztec and claimed they would punish business jet owners…

Can anyone estimate the cost for repainting this jet?

Bingo. In fact I would suggest to change the thread title: "UNEMPLOYED idiotic LOSERS damage business jet." People who take to the streets for a variety of reasons and damage property and/or cause loss of life are losers who have nothing better to do. If they had time on their hands and were constructive they would be leading the way and building solutions to champion their cause...not be a part of the problem instead be a part of the solution!

CRIMINALS damage business jet in Germany. Throw the book at them.

Make sure they get to Davos next year.

VS11 wrote:

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Paint job on that would be $100,000 US.

Does insurance cover that?

Hull coverage should.

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

Following earlier protests of these doomsayers German police raided 15 properties two weeks ago in search of evidence of organizing a fundraising campaign to finance criminal actions.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-police-swo ... a-65715954

They will go much further. Especially in Germany where successive governments showed they were willing to make stupid and expensive choices (as in hundreds of billions and a war in Ukraine) in the name of green, even with the result being actually damaging to the environment (I'm talking about shutting down nuclear power plants).

Usually they use paint that can be washed away easily though, maybe not this time.

Sounds like they had a fun day! I had to go to work as I don't live on government benefits.

I get the urgency of the climate change issue but there's no way to glue yourself to something without looking like an idiot.

This action reminds me of the Earth Liberation Front burning the ski lodge at Vail; I lived near there at the time. The lodge was rebuilt even larger than it had been originally. So their actions released pollutants into the air and caused the reconstruction creating the harvesting of more forest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Liberation_Front

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

They do, they have been attacking and damaging numerous animal farm, like a group of orge for many years

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

Correct. Aviation is simply an easy target for the ill-informed. These idiots have spent too much time listening to a Scandi teenager. If they really want to fight against climate change then they should head to China.

GlobalRepublic wrote:

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

Correct. Aviation is simply an easy target for the ill-informed. These idiots have spent too much time listening to a Scandi teenager. If they really want to fight against climate change then they should head to China.

Yup. A factory using coal to make textile raw materials is in China. Try going there to protest. Deportation, after seeing an inside of a cell, is in a short order. If they ever even get any close to the factory itself.

A factory converting those fabrics into clothing is in Bangladesh. Try protesting existence of that, shouting "this place should be eliminated" to the people who draw their only wage from that work.

So yeah, vandalizing something visible in their home countries is an easier way to show their displeasure.

These are terrorists and should be locked up for life under special anti-terrorist laws, without trial. Period.
Those who disrespect others' private property should be denied any rights.

Seems Germany have the same kind of idiots we have in France. And as it seems they were released right away, it seems German justice is as lazy as ours.

Mental issues are not funny and need to be supported.

They should be left there, glued to the aircraft for days or weeks

MartijnNL wrote:

The police eventually put an end to the action and arrested the activists. They were released the same day, but a criminal investigation hangs over them.

But NOTHING will happen, that's the sad truth. In 2020 an activist glued himself to a LübeckAir ATR72, causing delays and disruptions. Dispite full confession, the court later dropped the case against him...

In the Volkswagen museum they left them glued to the walls overnight and locked up the Museum.
The Terrorists complained that they hadn't been fed, watered or given toilet facilities...Oh, the humanity!

German Text but proof it happened: https://www.heute.at/s/vw-laesst-festge ... -100234949

Noshow wrote:

Damage is said to be 200K $ due to the engines being damaged.

It´s been said only the re-painting will cost about 200k Euro plus the costs for cleaning, repairs and maintenance. And since they also took off the covers and sprayed into the engines these probably must be changed. So the total costs will be much higher.

Not that I support damage to property in the name of protest, but wow, there's a lot of anti-environment prejudice on this thread. And some horrendously authoritarian overtones. Some of you might like to reread your posts in the cold hard light of day and consider the implications of what you're actually saying. It's not pretty. I just don't get the "aviation über alles" mentality.

I agree with you but it's no surprise people finally go ballistic over this as in Germany we have had road blockades and other sorts of more violent protests for some time that feel like not be properly reacted to by some authorities due to government PR preferences.

Nothing intelligent to expect from Green Germans, they don't even care about the environment.
But I can't help to notice that we don't see the same outcry when trains are defaced.

Boeing757100 wrote:

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

You've clearly never had hard learned lessons from glue.

LaunchDetected wrote:

Nothing intelligent to expect from Green Germans, they don't even care about the environment.
But I can't help to notice that we don't see the same outcry when trains are defaced.

Defaced train can be fixed, and carry on. Oftentimes, a defaced train carries on, until the next scheduled paintjob (if ever). In the meantime, it just chugs along, looking ugly.

Tampering with airplanes, on the other hand, opens the whole can of worms with that "airworthiness" thing, no? I mean, there's a reason those airplane mechanics are certified and vetted, before they are actually allowed to touch the thing.

Probably some ground for difference in consequences.

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

It's so much easier to hate on the things point the finger at things that they personally don't use or will never be able to use. There is also undertones in my opinion of hatred towards wealth which is usually why they go after corporate jets and high end stores.

Personally I believe (and I don't have any proof happy if someone does have links to proof) that the marine industry probably puts out more emissions than aviation especially with the boiler sludge/asphalt they call bunker fuel, but hey that is how these idiots get their Xboxes and PS5s so they obviously are exempt.

Throw the book at these criminals. Climate change is real, but lets face it there are so many better opportunities than targeting aviation that will make more meaningful change to the environment.

TWA772LR wrote:

Boeing757100 wrote:

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

You've clearly never had hard learned lessons from glue.

I guess not.. I'm not THAT adventurous of a kid.....

But seriously, how do these guys do it? I'd imagine using duct tape or the like would be easier to let you stay on the wing, but what do I know.

T54A wrote:

They should be left there, glued to the aircraft for days or weeks

Agreed!

Such actions should be punished and the best way to do it, is to estimate the costs of repair and spread it among the individuals involved.
As for the gluing part to the wings - superglue? And as someone have said already - let them stay there for few days, glued. That would be fun to watch.
Regarding climate change. I do agree, bizz jets are contributing greatly (when considering the whole aviation world) but so do the helicopters, but there are more problems than just bizz jets. Germany opening coal plants (making coal plants in Poland look like small insignificant dwarfs with tiny pipe in their mouths), France banning pax aircrafts but not bizz jets from flying some domestic routes and finally Davos showdown - dozens of bizz jet lands, what, 40km away, than the bunch of these kind people who come there are transferred to the town of Davos by helicopter (one by one, not in groups?) to than take a limo to the hotel where the whole circus is taking place? And again, plastic packaging, candies in plastic bags, each candy packed in plastic wrapper etc. There is sooooo much more to fight than damaging someone's property. And let's face it - it's not the aircraft to blame, but people who choose to use it over scheduled airliners.

DavidByrne wrote:

Not that I support damage to property in the name of protest, but wow, there's a lot of anti-environment prejudice on this thread. And some horrendously authoritarian overtones. Some of you might like to reread your posts in the cold hard light of day and consider the implications of what you're actually saying. It's not pretty. I just don't get the "aviation über alles" mentality.

Honestly...

I get that this is an aviation website and all, but I just don't understand what about these events would trigger people so much that they express these kind of highly emotional and extreme statements.
I don't know if people are simping for the airplanes themselves or for the ultra-rich who own them, and I can't decide which is more pathetic.

Vandals will be vandals. At least, unlike most vandals, they destroy property for what they believe to be a good cause instead of just wanting to watch the World burn (quite the opposite in fact).
They are indeed criminals and will be prosecuted for their actions in accordance to the relevant laws. I can think of much worse criminals than those who damage private property. This won't keep me up at night, much less foam at the mouth with rage and I question the sense of measure of those who throw this much vitriol at that stuff.

Francoflier, it's the number of such episodes and incidents, not the severity of it that gets people being less and less tolerant to such, aka getting more and more aggressive with their oppinions about people doing it. I think people just get tired of eco-nazi/idiots damaging things, politicians pushing things on us instead of having proper public discussion on ecology and proper approach.
The aviation forum is filled with aviation professionals and enthusiasts, therefore don't get surprised, that people here get edgy when an aircraft is damaged by idiots.

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

The problem people have with business jets is that they burn way too much fuel for how many people they typically serve, perfectly valid complaint.

Which aircraft is involved that suffered at the hands of these stupid morons ?

Andrw wrote:

Francoflier, it's the number of such episodes and incidents, not the severity of it that gets people being less and less tolerant to such, aka getting more and more aggressive with their oppinions about people doing it. I think people just get tired of eco-nazi/idiots damaging things, politicians pushing things on us instead of having proper public discussion on ecology and proper approach.
The aviation forum is filled with aviation professionals and enthusiasts, therefore don't get surprised, that people here get edgy when an aircraft is damaged by idiots.

There are very few of these incidents overall. Much less than pretty much any other form of criminality or even vandalism.
Graffiti vandals alone cost much more in damages globally than these so-called 'eco-terrorists' could ever dream of doing. The problem is that anything they do is a lot more publicized than most other forms of crimes.

Additionally, likening them to 'nazis' or 'terrorists', is highly hyperbolic and rather demonstrative of the overly emotional response I was mentioning.

Francoflier wrote:

DavidByrne wrote:

Not that I support damage to property in the name of protest, but wow, there's a lot of anti-environment prejudice on this thread. And some horrendously authoritarian overtones. Some of you might like to reread your posts in the cold hard light of day and consider the implications of what you're actually saying. It's not pretty. I just don't get the "aviation über alles" mentality.

Honestly...

I get that this is an aviation website and all, but I just don't understand what about these events would trigger people so much that they express these kind of highly emotional and extreme statements.
I don't know if people are simping for the airplanes themselves or for the ultra-rich who own them, and I can't decide which is more pathetic.

Vandals will be vandals. At least, unlike most vandals, they destroy property for what they believe to be a good cause instead of just wanting to watch the World burn (quite the opposite in fact).
They are indeed criminals and will be prosecuted for their actions in accordance to the relevant laws. I can think of much worse criminals than those who damage private property. This won't keep me up at night, much less foam at the mouth with rage and I question the sense of measure of those who throw this much vitriol at that stuff.

My problem with acts like this is two fold.

1) Vandals will be vandals perfectly true, but everyday vandals tag objects or break windows that don't usually have life or death consequences. In this case looking at the picture, the repair on this will go way beyond just the paint on the fuselage. The pitot static system has been compromised which will need to be overhauled, the engines have potential internal damage if the reports are correct that they took the covers off and sprayed the fans and depending on the type of paint and potential thinners used, if it found any cracks in the existing paint and is left you could be looking at a corrosive in contact with the aircraft skin. Now all of this is repairable, but if it's not detected at this point because it's so fresh, and goes on to be, on the extreme end I'll admit, the cause of failure of components leading to a crash and possible fatalities onboard and on the ground, then this act of stupidity becomes an act of manslaughter at minimum.

2) None of us know what this jet is used for. It could be a case that it is used for business, in which case you have potentially lost the owners thousands to millions of dollars in business revenue to their family business. Maybe it's only used to shuttle the owner to an from vacations or other private travel needs. Worst case it's a medivac aircraft (unlikely in this situation) but my point is that with airplanes you don't know what function they provide to their owners, and this asset will now be out of service for months to have all of it's systems checked and brought back into service and are potentially impacting someone's livelihood for an extended period of time.

Living in Canada we rely heavily on aviation, both to access isolated and small communities and unfortunately to make up for our major lack of any type of rail infrastructure and I work with some of those communities. What I don't see is private yachts being defaced or cruise ships who's sole purpose is to travel in circles to allow people to relax meanwhile they are burning fuels that look closer to asphalt than a combustible fuel and can only guess at the amount of pointless emissions that they produce. I'm just sick and tired of aviation being unfairly targeted when, as I said earlier in the thread, there are more meaningful changes that can be made faster than the time it will take aviation to develop and certify the new technologies required to "Green up" aviation.

Boeing757100 wrote:

TWA772LR wrote:

Boeing757100 wrote:

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

You've clearly never had hard learned lessons from glue.

I guess not.. I'm not THAT adventurous of a kid.....

But seriously, how do these guys do it? I'd imagine using duct tape or the like would be easier to let you stay on the wing, but what do I know.

I wasn't neither but we've all had our fingertips glued together with regular Elmer's white glue lol. My dad, brother, and I also had to do some ad hoc roof repair to our house after a hurricane and had roofing tar all over our arms, white gas really helped with that one to get it off.

Anyway it's not hard to use any adhesive to bond skin to a surface. People think it would be permanent or at least inhumane for law enforcement to peal you off and apprehend you. Meanwhile you can go to a drug store and buy a solvent for pretty cheap to fix that. Ask the girl who used gorilla glue on her hair about that.

DavidByrne wrote:

Not that I support damage to property in the name of protest, but wow, there's a lot of anti-environment prejudice on this thread. And some horrendously authoritarian overtones. Some of you might like to reread your posts in the cold hard light of day and consider the implications of what you're actually saying. It's not pretty. I just don't get the "aviation über alles" mentality.

Hello..? What they've done is decidedly anti-environment!

The plane will be repainted and repaired which will cause the expenditure of MORE chemicals that they espouse to hate! Not only will the plane be repainted, but it will most likely be flown to a paint shop. Are you starting to get it???

Francoflier, well if you think about it, apart from emotional response (which I agree with), the labels are correct. Eco-nazi as I personally call such individuals, are not intending to talk nor discuss anything. They just want their way. Take few examples - few year ago in France (If I remember correctly) Greenpeace activists broke into nuclear plant. First time in 2013, than a year later. Official reports say they did not shut down nor meddled with any system, but didn't they? 2013 saw one of the stupidest actions of Greenpeace when their ship tried to run Russian coast guard ship and later on got close to oil drilling platform, I think their activists actually got onto the platform. Than 2016, Dakota, USA, equipment burned down that was used to build a pipeline. Such actions are, in my opinion, correctly branded as terrorism. And than you have harmless fools, who glue themselves to asphalt or aircrafts causing traffic disruptions etc. But if my memory does not fool me, disruption of traffic can also be branded as terrorism since it's jeopardising given country's communication and transport.
The activist word should be reserved to those, who come out with transparent and demand negotiations, not those who trespass and damage. For such individuals there should be a police boot and batons, just like for all criminals.
Noone minds protests, nearly everybody mind damaging someone's property. You would not be happy if you owned a car which would have been damaged because it's petrol or diesel, right? Think about the owner of an aircraft. Your loss is £30k, his £300k or milions if he has to scrap the aircraft.

Let's shoot them in the kneecaps ! Cut off their hand ! Electrocute them a bit ! Then maybe we cut into their bellies, remove their intestines, and burn them in fron of them ! Then we cut off their heads and throw their bodies to a pack of hungry wolves.

This is a.net and nothing can ever be allowed to interfere with aviation.

Shouldn't the title say Terrorists damage business jet in Germany

While what they did is wrong business jetting is obnoxious, inefficient and super polluting way for the rich elite to travel and should be banned except for medical flights etc. special purposes.

The irony here is that spray paint and adhesives are regulated substances (in the US and I am pretty certain under EU directive also) due to emissions of VOCs / CO2 equivalents. Perhaps they missed that memo.

Does anyone know how these environmentalists travelled to the airport? If they drove a gasoline vehicle, then they are hypocrites.

Andrw wrote:

Francoflier, well if you think about it, apart from emotional response (which I agree with), the labels are correct. Eco-nazi as I personally call such individuals, are not intending to talk nor discuss anything. They just want their way. Take few examples - few year ago in France (If I remember correctly) Greenpeace activists broke into nuclear plant. First time in 2013, than a year later. Official reports say they did not shut down nor meddled with any system, but didn't they? 2013 saw one of the stupidest actions of Greenpeace when their ship tried to run Russian coast guard ship and later on got close to oil drilling platform, I think their activists actually got onto the platform. Than 2016, Dakota, USA, equipment burned down that was used to build a pipeline. Such actions are, in my opinion, correctly branded as terrorism. And than you have harmless fools, who glue themselves to asphalt or aircrafts causing traffic disruptions etc. But if my memory does not fool me, disruption of traffic can also be branded as terrorism since it's jeopardising given country's communication and transport.
The activist word should be reserved to those, who come out with transparent and demand negotiations, not those who trespass and damage. For such individuals there should be a police boot and batons, just like for all criminals.
Noone minds protests, nearly everybody mind damaging someone's property. You would not be happy if you owned a car which would have been damaged because it's petrol or diesel, right? Think about the owner of an aircraft. Your loss is £30k, his £300k or milions if he has to scrap the aircraft.

Your definition of terrorism is definitely quite stretchy... Let alone that for Nazis.
All of the examples you cited are merely small scale property damage and disruptions with no injuries or loss of life. It is apparent to me that, so far, none of these groups intend to cause bodily harm to anyone (other than themselves) and are only seeking to attract attention to themselves and various climate issues. They don't even try to evade the consequences of their actions as they almost always let themselves be captured by authorities.
...and, no. They do not 'jeopardize a country's communication and transport' in any sort of way. That is preposterous. A trucker strike does infinitely more damage to that than a Greenpeace act of protest ever could, yet I've never seen truckers described as terrorists when they strike.

These groups resort to these acts because negotiating, as you imply they should demand, does not work. The only serious negotiations happening regarding climate change are international agreements like the 2016 Paris agreement, which virtually none of the signatories even adhere to, let alone the rest. The fact remains that we are headed towards a climate catastrophe and that no one does anything serious about it.
Climate change will cause much, much more property damage than a few business jets are worth...

As for the property damage, that's why insurance companies exist. I don't care for a second about the wealthy people who own or operate these aircraft because for all the private jets they might have to fix, they still are better off than 99.9% of the World population. That's why these groups target them in the first place and don't go after John Doe's Chevy Malibu.

On the scale of the constant and worsening doom and misery that happen around the planet on a daily basis, those climate activists are pretty much a non-event and it makes me chuckle that so many on here foam at the mouth about them while seemingly ignoring the rest of the overwhelming appalling news cycle.

You have to give them that though, they are good at putting themselves on the headline despite the insignificance of their acts - which is the whole point I suppose.

Boeing757100 wrote:

Doesn't aviation make up like 2% of all emissions? Rather why don't they deface a fashion clothing plant or a meat packing warehouse?

And how tf do they 'glue' themselves onto the wings?

Yes but only 4% of the human population of earth have ever flown, including bush planes and military transports. 2% of our entire global emissions for something so few people have the means to take part in makes flying the most environmentally destructive act a human can perform. Fashion and eating meat has a big cost, bigger than aviation, but they benefit more like about 80% of us, not 4%.

The fact that we love flying and studying the business — I have written six well-received books about aviation and I’m a professional pilot so I’m more committed to it than you are — doesn’t change base reality, which is that the environmental movement are on the right side of history. Sorry.