To Catch a Thief

[MARZ]

Theft in the Houston area.   Just trying to spread some info.

 

 

 

 

Wanted: Information or return of Stolen avionics out of a training aircraft last night 2/12/2014, at Weiser Airpark, Houston Texas. Be on the lookout for resale or installation requests of Garmin 430, G327, G340, and/or Apollo sl40. 

 

$2000 CASH no questions asked reward for the return of these avionics or the prosecution of the S.O.B. who did this. Garmin will not repair, service, or maintain stolen equipment, and these serial numbers have been reported to Garmin.
       Let's use the aviation community to catch this person, he has to be local, as he knew what he was doing. We are just regular people trying to survive in the aviation community.
We also found out the thief smashed another C172's window. Breaking windows of airplanes and then stealing all the avionics. 2 different Garmin 430's stolen from Aviation supporters. One complete stack: audio panel, both radios, transponder.  He has to either sell them or use them somewhere in the future. Hooks (KDWH), Weiser (KEYQ), West Houston(KIWS), (KLVJ )Pearland, (SGR) Sugarland. 

 

Please Help.

 

Garmin 340 audio panel s/n 96266563
Garmin 430 GPS s/n 97116558
Apollo SL 30 nav/com s/n 6058050
Garmin GTX 327 transponder s/n 83714993

 

$2000 CASH REWARD
Ben (281).660.8270

 

 

[Mooneymite]

I"ve been looking for a GTX 327 at a good price.

 

Hmmmmmm.

 

 

 

(Thanks for the warning!)

[TWinter]

They stepped into FEDERAL TERRITORY when it's from aircraft.  A big No-No.

[co2bruce]

Check ebay

[Txbyker]

Mike, my office 2 miles from there.  Will keep a local look out.  (no it wasn't me)

[MARZ]

Luckily it wasn't my radios.. Just hate to see this kind of stuff. Seems to be more of the norm nowadays.

[orionflt]

About 8 yrs ago when i fist bought my plane I upgraded my panel and installed a 430, about a month afterwards a group of thieves out of florida made their way up the east coast stealing avionics. they hit my airport and two other local ones on their tour and you guessed it my 430 was one of the missing pieces of equipment. the police had a few leads, but nothing they could act on, the even fingerprinted the plane looking for evidence, but these guys were pros. 

the insurance company wa great and i had a new one install with in a few weeks, but i kept looking on trade a plane, ebay and any where avionics were listed hoping to catch the guy that violated my poor plane. one day a few months later i saw a 430 on ebay, said it was removed for a panel upgrade (when everyone was upgrading to 430 and 530's), it also had a familiar smudge on the upper right corner of the screen....i had accidently touched mine in the same location on one of my first flights and never wiped it off. out of curiosity i sent a message asking some basic info about it and since it was when the was upgrades were just about to be offered i asked for the serial number to "see if it was eligible to be upgraded". a day later i received a response which included the serial number....MY serial number. as you can guess i was on the phone with the police with in minutes, with in a day members of my local pilot group had pulled all the info including pic of the individual selling the radio. I turned all of the info over to the police, I had hoped for instant gratification but the wheels of justice move slow but atleast they didn't stop. a few months later i received the call that they had arrested the whole crew and thanked me for the info that helped make the case. one of the things i was asked was how i had the serial numbers of my equipment, they said most owners could not provide that info when requested. that kinda made sense to me because unless the avionics shop recorded them in the logbook when the avionics were installed most of that info can get lost or never given to the owner at all. I hope these guys get caught, i was lucky no damage was done to my plane, but these guys don't seem to care how much damage they do.

 

brian  

[moodychief]

Since everyone is tired of seeing the bladder versus wet wing debates, is this where us vintage guys can start the steam gauge versus glass discussion?

[M20F-1968]

Is there something about the Texas area?  Curiously, I have two separate court judgments against two separate A&P mechanics in the Dallas area for their less than honest practices.  One such judgment is quite large (six figures) due to punitive damages awarded by the Court for violations of the Texas Deceptive Trades Practices Act.  The other (5 figures) for contract violations.  The mischief seems to be larger than just breaking into aircraft.  If anyone wishes to know "the rest of story" about aviation in Dallas, you can message me privately with your phone number.

 

John

[Ron McBride]

The other thing that they used to do, is put the stolen radios into another plane that they stole the radios from.  The owner of the 2nd plane would not know that they were stolen until sending to the manufacturer.  He could sell the radios from the 2nd plane, if you checked the serial numbers, they would come back clean.

 

Watch out.

 

Ron

[Cabanaboy]

New Reality Show, Bait Plane??? 

Hope they catch em.

[N601RX]

Back in the early 2000's the original owner of my mooney left it tied down at a rural airport in Ga. When he came back the next morning the entire engine was gone. They made a complete mess of it. Everything was cut and left hanging. The insurance company ended up with the plane.

[Becca]

Rumor has it similar thefts occured at LVJ a couple of years ago and no one was caught.  Given the proximity, one wonders if its the same culprit.

[PTK]

I don't see why avionics manufacturers don't build security in these boxes. It could easily be built into the software that would disable them if removed from the airplane.

 

This would discourage thieves.

[flyboy0681]

....MY serial number. 

 

As a great American once said, stupid is as stupid does. Why would the possessor of stolen merchandise simply hand over the serial number just for the asking?

[Bob - S50]

As a great American once said, stupid is as stupid does. Why would the possessor of stolen merchandise simply hand over the serial number just for the asking?

Maybe if we all required a serial number before we would buy an item online and if there was a website that listed the serial numbers of all known stolen items, we might make avionics theft less attractive.

[flyboy0681]

Maybe if we all required a serial number before we would buy an item online and if there was a website that listed the serial numbers of all known stolen items, we might make avionics theft less attractive.

 

Aren't serial numbers required for a data subscription?

[orionflt]

Aren't serial numbers required for a data subscription?

the only time the serial number really gets looked at is when the unit goes in for service. you do not need them for subscriptions.

[flyboy0681]

the only time the serial number really gets looked at is when the unit goes in for service. you do not need them for subscriptions.

 

My bad. I always thought that the data on a card was tied to the serial number. Does that mean that if a person has a 530 and a 430 that they can update both of them with the same subscription?

[orionflt]

sorta, jep only allows you to down load and install on one card unless you have a multi unit subscription. there are people that will hack the down load to trick it into thinking it hasn't been used yet then load it on more then one card but most people who have one subscription and two 435/530 will put the current database in one unit and the month old in the second unit. as much as i hate paying for the subscriptions the cost of the 2cd unit is really not too bad.

[Bob - S50]

My bad. I always thought that the data on a card was tied to the serial number. Does that mean that if a person has a 530 and a 430 that they can update both of them with the same subscription?

The data card is tied to a specific unit, however, you do not need to enter a serial number.  If I remember right, when I registered our unit with Garmin, it asked for some other identifying number (other than the SN).  I think what happens is the first time I download the database it puts that identifying info on the data card so it can only be used with that one unit.  If someone steals the GPS, the data card is still in the unit so they have all they need to download subscriptions.  The question to ask would be if Garmin checks to see if that unit is already registered to another user, and if so, do they try to contact the original owner?  Also, as someone suggested, if the thieves steal two units and use one unit to replace the other, when that owner tries to download and update their database, it will not match what they have registered.  Will that trigger a problem with Garmin that might identify it as stolen?

 

So many  possibilities.

 

Bob

[flyboy0681]

sorta, jep only allows you to down load and install on one card unless you have a multi unit subscription. there are people that will hack the down load to trick it into thinking it hasn't been used yet then load it on more then one card but most people who have one subscription and two 435/530 will put the current database in one unit and the month old in the second unit. as much as i hate paying for the subscriptions the cost of the 2cd unit is really not too bad.

 

I guess they changed the rules when it came to the GTN line. I get two downloads per update and can use any store bought SD Card to place in the unit.