Yes, well...
I have keys for two different aircraft types, but the keys fit the doors, not the (non-existent) ignition switches.
Anyone who watches those tacky TV mockumentaries probably knows how to use a 'slapper' to defeat a lock anyway, so that having or not having a key to any particular aircraft is a non-issue, same as the way pretty much anyone now knows how to get over a razor-wire fence using a rug.
We had a crew chief in Viet Nam take an Army RU-8D for a joyride, just once around the pattern in the middle of the night. He had a PPL single-engine, and he was seriously bored, and he wanted to show his buddies that anyone could fly one of those things, so.... He got away with that, too! The word got out that he had done it, but to track him down and give him a court-martial must have been just too much trouble.
One flight school I worked for saw a 'line boy,' all likkered up, come out in the wee hours to steal a Cessna for a joy ride. He went wazzing around for a while but then stacked it up landing on the taxiway, fortunately without seriously hurting himself or his passenger. I showed up early for work to see this pile of junk out there, when I asked the usual 'What the hell happened?' to get a lot of embarrassed mumbling as an answer, since the foolish young man was the son of one of our senior pilots.
In both cases, above, you had people with inside knowledge who failed to act responsibly, people inside a system designed to protect against outsiders. I don't think you can really say that the victims of the thefts were amiss in applying the level of security they had used; we all prefer to trust our fellow professionals. Not least, screw around with an airplane and you normally can forget having any sort of career in aviation from that point! That's a pretty powerful deterrent to anyone of sound mind, I hope.
I remember back when we did Drivers' Ed in High School; the teacher ('Those who can, do. Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach Drivers' Ed.') told us to assume that every other driver on the road wanted to kill us. He meant well, the poor thing, but if we really made that assumption then we would never take to the road! In the same way, should we re-calibrate our expectations of how our fellows in aviation shall act, given any chance to commit mayhem? No more trips to the toilet, I guess?
By the way: A big bucket of white paint and a brush were kept in the line shack ready for use if one of our aircraft had an accident. The idea was to white out the company logos before the news cameramen got there.
Last edited by chuks; 20th Jul 2012 at 06:59.