Originally Posted by
Mooncrest
I expect seizing an aircraft or any kind of valuable asset is never going to be a pleasant business but I hope in the UK at least we can be terribly British about the whole bally shebang. Trying to impound in a less lawless country could be hazardous.
Is a 'lien' some kind of court document?
Isn't the normal procedure to attach a writ to the entrance door and park a snowplough strategically to ensure the aircraft goes nowhere until the bill has been paid, or the leasing company has come to a legal arrangement to take back their property.
Certainly outside of aviation you can only put a lien on good that are the property of the debtor, so in essence a leased car, for example isn't the property of the company that leases it, but of the lessor who leased to the debtor you are trying to extract money from. This was always a problem in the freight industry where a freight forwarder owned a carrier money, but when the carrier attempted to take a lien on the goods being handled on behalf of the debtor forwarder the actual owners (the forwarder's client usually) was on to the carrier pretty sharpish demanding release of their property.
All good fun back in the day. I left the freight industry in 2001 and frankly, have never missed it.