Locking on the Ramp

[2EASYPilot]

The aircraft are always locked when unattended including the home hangar after hours and weekends.

 

[captainv]

Do you remember this retard?
http://www.news4jax.com/news/5100473/detail.html?subid=22100425&qs=1;bp=t

Pilot remains grounded in county custody

By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/22/07

Remember the young man who was arrested for allegedly stealing a million dollar jet and landing it in Gwinnett?

Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway remembers him. In fact, Conway says he can't get rid of him.

Since Daniel Andrew Wolcott's now infamous 2005 plane joy ride, the 23-year-old Buford man has remained in Gwinnett custody, even though he faces federal charges.

Wolcott's stay in local custody, now more than 15 months, has cost Gwinnett taxpayers close to $20,000, Conway said.

Wolcott has remained in jail in lieu of a $175,000 bond.

"We are just not supposed to be housing him," Conway said. "And when I call the FBI, I cannot get any answers. And are they going to pay us back for the money we spent to house him? I bet not."

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said he has agreed that he will drop charges against Wolcott and will allow the U.S. attorney's office in Jacksonville to prosecute him on charges of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft.

U.S. Marshal Richard Mecum said his office usually moves an inmate from a county jail to a federal facility if the suspect is being prosecuted by a federal agency.

Mecum, who works in the Atlanta office, said he did not know why Wolcott had not been moved.

Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Jacksonville, and Wolcott's attorney, Walt Britt, expect him to be transferred to federal custody soon.

The case dates back to October 2005, when a pricey corporate jet mysteriously popped up at Gwinnett County Airport/Briscoe Field, setting off a flurry of speculation and worry that would not have happened before Sept. 11, 2001.

The plane was discovered on a Monday morning, and officials didn't learn how it got there until Wednesday.

Those who know Andrew Wolcott, who goes by his middle name, say he is a gifted pilot who worked on contract flights for companies.

On Oct. 8, 2005, Wolcott was in St. Augustine, Fla., with his father, Scott, who also is a pilot. The two were scheduled to pilot separate corporate flights the next day, Scott Wolcott said in a 2005 interview.

But that night, authorities said, the younger Wolcott took an unscheduled flight.

Wolcott flew away in a $7 million Cessna Citation VII from the St. Augustine airport. Wolcott flew the plane about 400 miles and landed at Gwinnett's airport off Ga. 316 in Lawrenceville, authorities said.

Wolcott, who grew up in Gwinnett and went to Dacula High School, then called up five of his friends and treated them on a 15-mile jaunt to Winder and back on the luxury jet, authorities said.

The passengers did not know the plane was stolen, authorities said.

Once back at the airport, Wolcott and his friends left the plane. Wolcott then went back to work, taking a commercial flight back to Florida, authorities said. He flew back on the original flight he was supposed to pilot from St. Augustine.

But by then authorities had found the plane at the airport. Gwinnett and federal authorities wanted answers.

They got them on Wednesday of that week, when Wolcott's friends came forward to tell police they had ridden on the plane but did not know it was stolen.

Wolcott then turned himself in.

Matt Smith, manager of the Gwinnett airport, said the incident caused him to change security at the facility.

"Because of that we implemented a new airport security plan," Smith said. "I really can't go into detail about the plan, but that incident caused us to make some changes."

Wolcott made headlines again in 2006 when a feud over dental floss between his parents and Conway became public.

Wolcott's parent's were demanding that Wolcott be allowed to receive floss at the jail, but the sheriff objected because of security reasons.

Wolcott's parents objected when Conway then tried to remedy the dental situation by moving Wolcott to a jail cell with dentist and accused murderer Barton Corbin.

That move began a series of scorching e-mails from Wolcott's father that still continues, Conway said.

Conway said he recently moved Wolcott out of the Gwinnett jail to the DeKalb County jail because of "security reasons." But Wolcott is still technically in Gwinnett County custody, Conway said.

"I just want to get an answer as to when he will be picked up," said Conway.

"He was supposed to be moved a long time ago, and this is a waste of taxpayer money."

 

[Raskal]

Ok, so for all you locking fanatics, the "anytime the plane is out of our view" deal seems a bit ridiculous. Two questions, first, is it locked when the APU is running and you're well out of view in the fbo?

Second, do all of you guys also lock the emergency exit? And for those of you that do, how many have forgotten to unlock said exit? Be honest!

 

[2EASYPilot]

Ok, so for all you locking fanatics, the "anytime the plane is out of our view" deal seems a bit ridiculous. Two questions, first, is it locked when the APU is running and you're well out of view in the fbo?

Second, do all of you guys also lock the emergency exit? And for those of you that do, how many have forgotten to unlock said exit? Be honest!

I'm not sure about your operation but we never leave an aircraft unattended with an APU running...maybe it's just us.

 

[Raskal]

I'm not sure about your operation but we never leave an aircraft unattended with an APU running...maybe it's just us.

Yup, just you.

 

[2EASYPilot]

Yup, just you.

Well. leaving an unattended jet engine running just does not seem prudent...there is no fire protection in our aircraft just shut down if normal paramaters are exceeded but once again maybe others view this differently.

 

[MaxTorque]

We also lock up when out of the immediate area of the plane and never run the APU unattended. So it isn't just you.

MT

 

[Galaxy]

I just got in the habbit of locking every single time. If I am not going to be in sight of the door then I will close and lock it. Takes like a second to do on smaller planes-a few seconds more on large airframes.
If I am leaving the airport for overnight or even to get food then I even pin the emer door. No, I have never forgot to remove it as it has a huge remove b4 flight flag.
If I leave it at an airport without 24 hr security, 24 hr tower and no fence I even use security tape on the doors, baggage doors and oil doors.
All this not only came after 9-11 but also after having my digital camera disappear from the cockpit. A former company of mine had a EFB disappear from the plane as well as bags of stock.
I also had a friend of mine come back from luch to find his Bose headsets were missing. Someone walking in an airplane does not look suspicious.
Protect yourself and the property you are paid to protect.
Or your next post here may just be
"I got fined by the TSA"
"Someone stole my stuff"
As far as leaving an APU running..I can't think of an airframe with an APU that is single pilot so, just get your partner to keep an eye on things while you take care of business. Without auto fire protection on an APU you may be explaining to the Airport Authority, TSA, FAA, Insurance Company and you BOSS what was SO important that one of you could not do your job.

 

[LJ45]

"I got fined by the TSA"
.

What law would be broken for part 91 folks if you leave the door open on the ramp at a "secure" airport...say Teterboro?

anyone?

 

[FishHunter]

Ok, so for all you locking fanatics, the "anytime the plane is out of our view" deal seems a bit ridiculous. Two questions, first, is it locked when the APU is running and you're well out of view in the fbo?

Second, do all of you guys also lock the emergency exit? And for those of you that do, how many have forgotten to unlock said exit? Be honest!

Are you serious? Apu running , doors unlocked, aircraft unattended?

You're crazy. Never leave the airplane unattended with the APU running. You shut a door...lock it. It's not about security, it's common sense!

Some of you guys worry me.....

 

[stupidpilot]

Mosty of the APU's I've used have some sort of automatic shutdown in case of a fire but won't self-deploy the extinguishing agent. So, not so smart to leave the "P" running unattended. I think locking the aircraft is a measure designed to deter easy access to the aircraft. No planes I've been in have pins for the emergency exits to prevent them from being opened on the ground. I'm sure it would look alot more suspicious with a guy trying to get in the emergency exit rather than just walking up & opening the regular door.

 

[NGT]

Yup, just you.

Very few APU's have auto shut down/ auto extiguish/ and horn to notify of a fire (LR45 only one I've had). Also No APU I've ever used has had a Gen Off line warning unless you have auto shed of the Nav lights and are lucky enough to notice it. I once had the APU bleed duct seperate on the ground while being monitored and the only indication was amber Inverter Hot followed by Aft Bay Hot and dang near destroyed the airplane(GIII). Don't leave the APU unattended unless you cary spare batteries(I doubt you do) or have enough in savings to replace the aircraft(gross negligance, which I know first hand the insurance company will investigate!)!

TEB and some other airports require a second means of disabling the aircraft i.e. disconnect and lock batteries or remove and store nose steering pin,

P.S. JJK rules!!(TWA '92-98)

 

[Raskal]

Very few APU's have auto shut down/ auto extiguish/ and horn to notify of a fire (LR45 only one I've had). Also No APU I've ever used has had a Gen Off line warning unless you have auto shed of the Nav lights and are lucky enough to notice it. I once had the APU bleed duct seperate on the ground while being monitored and the only indication was amber Inverter Hot followed by Aft Bay Hot and dang near destroyed the airplane(GIII). Don't leave the APU unattended unless you cary spare batteries(I doubt you do) or have enough in savings to replace the aircraft(gross negligance, which I know first hand the insurance company will investigate!)!

TEB and some other airports require a second means of disabling the aircraft i.e. disconnect and lock batteries or remove and store nose steering pin,

P.S. JJK rules!!(TWA '92-98)

Hey,

Thanks for the reply-and you know we don't carry spare batteries any more than when you were here.

That said, two things-First, I agree about the unattended issue-when I was introduced to this practice my reaction was the same as all of you, rather surprised. But, the reality is that is generally how it's done here. The importance of "standing tall" and "being ready" for the pax overrides a great many things it seems.

Now, very rarely is the aircraft out of "view" per say, almost all FBO's offer a vantage point that allows observation, but leave a guy on the aircraft the whole time? Not gonna happen in many of our cases.

So, with all the honesty laid out, the second thing is that I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe the number of people speaking up and saying "no way". I may agree with it, but I'm on large busy ramps all the time and the number of times I see an airplane with the apu running, door open, curtain drawn, and no pilots out there WAY outnumber the occupied aircraft. Maybe you guys who truly stay on the airplane have different situations, but have you ever been to TEB? Go for a walk next time and take a good look, attended apu's are an exception by far.

So, unless this is a BS "maybe my boss or the feds might read this" thread, give me a break.

PS-The aircraft is always locked if we leave the fbo, no exceptions, but not the emergency door-I'm assuming that is similar for many. I'm only referring to the "active waiting" stage, when the pax is 3 hours late with no call (you know, a normal day).

 

[2EASYPilot]

Hey,

Thanks for the reply-and you know we don't carry spare batteries any more than when you were here.

That said, two things-First, I agree about the unattended issue-when I was introduced to this practice my reaction was the same as all of you, rather surprised. But, the reality is that is generally how it's done here. The importance of "standing tall" and "being ready" for the pax overrides a great many things it seems.

Now, very rarely is the aircraft out of "view" per say, almost all FBO's offer a vantage point that allows observation, but leave a guy on the aircraft the whole time? Not gonna happen in many of our cases.

So, with all the honesty laid out, the second thing is that I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe the number of people speaking up and saying "no way". I may agree with it, but I'm on large busy ramps all the time and the number of times I see an airplane with the apu running, door open, curtain drawn, and no pilots out there WAY outnumber the occupied aircraft. Maybe you guys who truly stay on the airplane have different situations, but have you ever been to TEB? Go for a walk next time and take a good look, attended apu's are an exception by far.

So, unless this is a BS "maybe my boss or the feds might read this" thread, give me a break.

PS-The aircraft is always locked if we leave the fbo, no exceptions, but not the emergency door-I'm assuming that is similar for many. I'm only referring to the "active waiting" stage, when the pax is 3 hours late with no call (you know, a normal day).

As the commencial says..."individual results may vary" but this is "no bs" we do not leave an unattended apu. However having said that, we are blessed with passengers that keep a schedule and vary seldom have the need to spend hours on standby waiting for them to show.

 

[TXGold]

I once flew for a 135 outfit that left the APU running. That says enough for the company. Once I figured it out, I can't believe I ever did such a thing. As stated before, I don't know of many planes that have a way of deploying any Halon without a finger.

As for locking the plane, there is always the emergency exits that will be unlocked. But why not do the best you can. After reading this thread, I plan to lock the plane more often than we already do.