Those Mother F*%$ers stole my fuel!

Jaques Strappe · Post by **Jaques Strappe** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:43 am

Hey NISS

If I remember correctly, you are up in Barrie. I used to keep my Citabria over at ORO and had fuel stolen on several occasions. It turned out to be a bunch of Rednecks who race their cars on the track just south of Highway 11.

For a hundred bucks you can buy a motorcycle alarm with perimeter guard. The perimeter guard will go off and make a hell of a noise as soon as anyone leans over your wing or tries crawling around your bird.

J.S

hazatude · Post by **hazatude** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:30 am

Just put razor blades on the sides of the cap. That'll learn 'em!

rotorfloat · Post by **rotorfloat** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:09 pm

Or you can use the dogs and the bees....

And when the dogs bark they shoot bees out...

Inverted2 · Post by **Inverted2** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:19 pm

There have been countless crashes because of improper fuel caps. If you use homemade or Canadian Tire fuel caps, your AC is no longer legally airworthy. I dont know if a cherokee has to have vented caps or not but if it does and they aren't venting, you know what will happen.

2R · Post by 2R » Sun Jul 02, 2006 8:38 am

Check for leaks first .Cherokee's are famous for leaky tanks.

Call the local police and let them know about the 'allegeded missing fuel" as it may be smugglers using your airplane ,without your knowledge.

Take a quite walk around the airport and you may just find out Who is up to no good.
Do not try and apprehend the culprits yourself .
Call for armed help (police).If they are smugglers you may not like what they do to you.
When we had kids stealing gas for thier motorcycles ,we said nothing as the 100 ll is so bad for the two stroke engines and the theft did not last as the bikes seized up shortly after.We had a good laugh at the little rats

co-joe · Post by **co-joe** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 8:52 am

My guess would definitely be street racers, or simply punks who spend their allowance on "other things". The wing even on a cherokee is higher than most car tanks, especially a lowered civic, so siphoning it with a garden hose wouldn't take long at all. Just do the locks and switch em back before flight. The culprits will just look for an easier target, probably the guy parked next to you.

aero-singidunum · Post by **aero-singidunum** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:33 pm

There is a quick drain on the bottom of the tank. So installing locks on the top will not protect you. Maybe move plane to other parking place,
or simply change airport.

niss · Post by **niss** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 8:51 pm

If its street racers they probably dont know about the quick drain, and i have no intentions of switching airports. I am going to canadian tire tomorrow looking for cap locks and if I cant find them well....c'est la vie, I will have to find some other alternative.

Cheers,

Niss

PS. No one knows of any generic cherokee fuel cap locks? Preferably something I do not have to change the housing for? Just replacement caps with a lock?

wingspan · Post by **wingspan** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:01 pm

Niss,

you need to buy two stickers that say ''Smile your on camera'' and stick them right next to the cap.

WS

nite_owl · Post by **nite_owl** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:43 pm

Sorry to hear you've been drained. That really sucks. What drains do you have under your wings? Are they the press up round ones you have to hold up or the ones you can push and rotate 90 degrees or so and they stay up and open?
Who pumps your fuel? Does he have any race friends? Someone may be watching to see who has full tanks in advance of these thefts.

Justwannafly · Post by **Justwannafly** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:30 am

I like the alarm idea....

skycoupe · Post by **skycoupe** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:02 pm

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ap/fuel_caps.html

Bobby868 · Post by **Bobby868** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:54 pm

Pete wrote: When I flew the PA 140 when I first got checked out, my instructor always told me to open the caps and check inside because someone up north lost his engine because people were dipping rags in the tank and forgot to pull one out...anyone else heard of that?

Yes I have heard of that. I'm very familiar with the story. Happed some 15 years ago up in Yellowknife. Some of the locals were dipping rags into the tanks to pull out gas to sniff and be darned if one of the rags didn't fall in. Of course the brain dead fellows never said anything, just put the cap back on and took off. Pilot came along sometime later hoped in, took off and made it a short way off the runway before the rags settled onto his fuel intake. Crash resulted.

Not sure if anyone died.

Pete do you recall the name of the instructor that told you that? Or which school you were at and when?