You wrote:
"what relevance the opinions of a Systems Consultant are to this. Not being at all experienced in what goes on in Airlines, I'm not sure you have the background to defend what is theft and pilfering"...
sorry to inform you but EVERYBODY has the background to defend theft and pilfering. Without boring you to tears, let me you about a really nice scam I uncovered in the early '80s at a company I was consulting at.
The loading dock at this place was staffed from 7:00am until 3:30pm. After that, a phone was provided and the Computer Operators would open the loading dock and sign for the equipment. In short time, irregardless of who signed for the equipment, instead of finding 8 controllers the next morning there would only be 7. This went on for a couple of months and bear in mind, this was before Video Survelleince. Needless to say both the company and IBM were more than a little upset at the missing equipment.
About 10 weeks into this and having stopped deliveries after 3:00pm, no more equipment went "missing" Imagine my surprise on the Tuesday after Labor Day when our IBM engineer came in and told me he knew where to find the equipment. Needless to say I asked for a further explanation. It turns out this IBM engineer was driving around his neighborhood with his family and saw a sign for a garage sale. Sure enough, right on this guy's lawn were 8 or 9 controllers been sold either intact or for their parts. The individual selling them was very flexible.
Turns out this individual was one of the Computer Operators at the site in question. After his shift was over, he was simply opening the loading dock, driving in, and shoving a controller into his flatbed truck. Then he left.
Of course, he obviously wasn't the sharpest stick in the forest as evidenced by his attempt to sell the said equipment.
I guess that's why a Systems Consultant might have had some experience in this. Simply because THEFT is THEFT irregardless of the industry involved.
Andy