# Keys and fighter jets **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 12, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511 "2007-07-12T17:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/1 "2007-07-12T17:01:58Z")
In reference to the Cecil thread on [keys to an F-16](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_015a.html), is there even a code of some sort? In a Holywood scenario, could a spy, in however unlikely a scenario, joy ride one? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/2 "2007-07-12T17:08:06Z")
If you can get close to one without getting shot you would not need a code to start it. The without getting shot part is the key. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/3 "2007-07-12T17:08:34Z")
Also on the subject of that column. I know he’s got a word limit, but seriously, three sentences ? (Is “No” a sentence?) ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/4 "2007-07-12T17:10:03Z")
[QUOTE=essell] Also on the subject of that column. I know he’s got a word limit, but seriously, three sentences ? (Is “No” a sentence?) [/QUOTE] Sometime he packs a bunch of short answers into one column. When they post the classics, the short ones get a whole day, just like the long ones. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/5 "2007-07-12T18:11:40Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] If you can get close to one without getting shot you would not need a code to start it. The without getting shot part is the key. [/QUOTE] PART of the key? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/6 "2007-07-12T19:25:00Z")
[QUOTE=Jake] PART of the key? 😛 [/QUOTE] I thought it didn’t need a key. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/7 "2007-07-12T19:46:03Z")
[QUOTE=essell] \ (Is “No” a sentence?) [/QUOTE] Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Cassie\_In\_The\_Attic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@Cassie\_In\_The\_Attic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cassie_In_The_Attic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/8 "2007-07-12T20:20:08Z")
I don’t know about jets (didn’t James Bond steal one in that movie about Russian pipelines?) but the Iraqis removed the batteries from their tanks and kept them in the bunkers they dug nearby. Perhaps to prevent draftees from going AWOL? ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/9 "2007-07-13T00:36:10Z")
OK. So let me ask the obvious question. How would one start an F-16? (I suppose I could always ask my father, who used to fly other jets in the Marines. I just never thought to ask!) ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/10 "2007-07-13T00:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] If you can get close to one without getting shot you would not need a code to start it [/QUOTE] I was inspired rather morbidly by the thread on Kamikaze attacks and the raid on a USAAF base in Puerto Rico and also by an account of a raid by Australian pilots in WWI on some captured aircraft where they landed, stole one captured plane and destroyed another. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/11 "2007-07-13T02:46:25Z")
You don’t need keys for pretty much anything in the military. Even HMMWVs just have a lever that you turn like the cylinder in a car. Tanks and other tracked vehicles are the same way. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/12 "2007-07-13T03:32:58Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] …the raid on a USAAF base in Puerto Rico and also by an account of a raid by Australian pilots in WWI on some captured aircraft where they landed, stole one captured plane and destroyed another. [/QUOTE] What’s this raid in Puerto Rico all about? ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/13 "2007-07-13T03:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=IntelSoldier] You don’t need keys for pretty much anything in the military. Even HMMWVs just have a lever that you turn like the cylinder in a car. Tanks and other tracked vehicles are the same way. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t find the news story, but about 2-3 years ago two actual military hummers were stolen from a small military storage facility in Wakefield, MA. They were recovered early the next morning dumped in some backwoods in Dracut a few miles away. I can’t remeber if they ever caught the kids that took them. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/14 "2007-07-13T03:59:22Z")
I bet these guys know. [fighter jock forum](http://http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewforum-f-21-sid-acddc37a8f8cf4c8cd36356064d9bf80.html) ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/15 "2007-07-13T04:11:19Z")
[link](http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewforum-f-21-sid-acddc37a8f8cf4c8cd36356064d9bf80.html) fixed ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/16 "2007-07-13T08:05:56Z")
[QUOTE=wevets] What’s this raid in Puerto Rico all about? [/QUOTE] I googled more on the attack mentioned in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8766572&postcount=57) in the Kamikaze thread and further googling found [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boricua_Popular_Army#Notable_incidents). Although to steal a jet I’d imagine you’d need to find one that wouldn’t take too much prepping before take off on top of all this. ---
**Author:** ![Foghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/76d3ee/32.png) [@Foghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foghead)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/17 "2007-07-13T11:53:17Z")
That’s all well and good, but does anyone understand the accompanying image? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/18 "2007-07-13T13:42:14Z")
Seriously… there’s no keypad, or authorized-pilot cardswipe, for USAF aircraft? That surprises me. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/19 "2007-07-13T16:37:20Z")
[QUOTE=Foghead] That’s all well and good, but does anyone understand the accompanying image? [/QUOTE] See \*\* Rube E. Tewesday\*\*'s post above. When this column originally appeared in print, it was probably accompanied by the last letter on [this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_294.html) page. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511/20 "2007-07-14T03:56:32Z")
[QUOTE=Cassie In The Attic] the Iraqis removed the batteries from their tanks and kept them in the bunkers they dug nearby. Perhaps to prevent draftees from going AWOL? [/QUOTE] Why didn’t they just push start the tanks? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keys-and-fighter-jets/411511.md?page=2)