Fuel Bandits !

[FullyFlapped]

Had my plane at Netherthorpe last week to have some work done. Whilst there, some chaps I'd like to spend 5 mins alone with crept onto the airfield overnight and relieved me, and several others, of the entire contents of our fuel tanks - about £170's worth in my case ... worse, they left the fuel caps off as well, setting all those involved up for a worrying "test for water then first flight after" session.

Lovely airfield, excellent folk running it and working there ... but no security, like a lot of places, I'd imagine. If you're planning an overnight there, might be wise to go in without full tanks !

FF :ok:

[--o-o-0-o-o--]

Me too...... flew club aircraft at Nethers........dipped the tanks.......yep, dry as a nun's........luckily fuel caps screwed back on so no water in tanks. Still, bit scarey knowing someone has been p*ssing around with aircraft.

[Mike Cross]

You're not alone. Same thing happened to us at Popham a couple of years ago. The good thing is that 100LL is liable to effectively bu@@er up their catalytic converter, which will cost them a few hundred quid to replace.

[Kolibear]

If you put you car into a garage to have work done on it, the the garage has a duty of care for your car. I wonder if the same applies to aircraft.

[WorkingHard]

Kolibear - probably BUT if that means building a new hanger to ensure such "duty of care" are you willing to pay the price in terms of increased maintenance costs? If the maintenance organisation lets you know the a/c is ready and awaiting collection and you cant foe whatever reason for a few days whose responsibility is it then? Not criticising just thinking aloud!

[LowNSlow]

We had a chap who had his C180 robbed twice. Unfortunately he fitted locking caps after the first event. Second time around they damaged the tank necks wrenching the caps off...... They also damaged the aerials when they climbed over the wings. B@stards.

Now all the aeroplanes live inside.

There was a security patrol at the airfield in question with regular visits through the night.

[Capt. Vilo]

Had a few a/c at Elstree that got drained as well, caps left off and a tank full of water waiting for you the next morning,,nice.Hope the F*@KERS who are doing this know that it is not just the cost of the fuel but all the grief that goes with it. Anyway hope their hands drop off !!!!

[hollywood285]

and ther cars blow up with them in it!

[helicopter-redeye]

1. Probably passing thieves, so would drink the stuff not put it in the nice new Merc.

2. duty of care

This is an interesting point. Although it would be unfair for SAC to be caught because of the actions of a bunch of thieving t'rags, aircraft owners normally appear to suffer a continual risk of their aircraft being taken from them (lien) if they do not pay their bills for landing etc. Thus if you pay for the service, what duty does the airfield have in exchange for the landing fee?

[troddenmasses]

This was happening at an airfield that I was working at as a bowser driver - to pay for flying. We worked out a general pattern for the fuel losses, and hid in the (open) hanger for a couple of nights until we found out who was doing it - one of the firemen. There were 'ahem' discussions, and he decided that he would not do this again, and find employment somewhere else. Just to show that there were no hard feelings, we sent him flowers in hospital :ok: