# Motherfucker! Airport Vandalized!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 7, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814 "2005-05-07T14:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/1 "2005-05-07T14:19:35Z")
Went out to fly this morning and arrived to find out the airport was vandalized overnight! 45 runway lights ripped out of the ground (that was the first tip-off - an early arrival walked into the office and said “Hey, you know, most of your runway lights aren’t working and I think one of them is lying on the pavement”). Went to pre-flight Bravo and discovered someone had been fucking around inside the cockpit. Switches all messed up, every which way. But the wires linking the key to the starter had been cut and the ends neatly stripped. Wonder if someone had been trying to hotwire it. **NOTE:** I know some of us on the Dope do, actually, know how to hotwire an airplane. _DO NOT start a discussion about that_ - suffice to say that if that had been the intention I don’t think they knew what the hell they were doing. Anyhow, no flying. I hope none of the other airplanes at tie-down were vandalized but they’ll all have to be checked out. It’s now being left up to the cops/FBI/other authorities. Motheringfucking cocksucking scumfeeding slimeballs I hope you rot in hell while being fucked by giant pineapples shoved up your asses! And a whole bunch of other bile and venom!!! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/2 "2005-05-07T14:51:16Z")
I hope the vandals haven’t messed with the fuel tanks by adding salt / sugar / sand / other crap. Anyway, just chill and think about going supersonic at low level over the miscreants’ houses. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/3 "2005-05-07T17:00:33Z")
Is it too extreme to think that the vandals, if caught and convicted, should get the death penalty? These acts could be seen as terrorism whether the malcontents intended that or not. Most vandalism is harmless in the grand scheme of things, but this bullshit endangered hundreds of lives. :f ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/4 "2005-05-07T17:06:43Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > Is it too extreme to think that the vandals, if caught and convicted, should get the death penalty? It might be worth realizing that she’s not talking about a major airport with jumbo jets, etc., before you start thinking “terrorism.” My sympathy, **Broomstick**. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/5 "2005-05-07T17:17:22Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > It might be worth realizing that she’s not talking about a major airport with jumbo jets, etc., before you start thinking “terrorism.” > > My sympathy, **Broomstick**. Even if it’s a small Cessna 152, if you fuck with any airplane that will occupy people, you’re being a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/6 "2005-05-07T17:24:10Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Even if it’s a small Cessna 152, if you fuck with any airplane that will occupy people, you’re being a terrorist. I’m just saying that at an airport like that, especially considering the nature of the other damage, it’s much more likely that someone was being a destructive asshole than trying to kill a couple random private pilots because They Hate America ™. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/7 "2005-05-07T17:34:13Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > Is it too extreme to think that the vandals, if caught and convicted, should get the death penalty? These acts could be seen as terrorism whether the malcontents intended that or not. Most vandalism is harmless in the grand scheme of things, but this bullshit endangered hundreds of lives. :f Most airports I’ve been to have the following [sign](http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?DID=19&CATID=96&Product_ID=382&count=29&Pcount=38&DETAIL=1): > [@](#): > > WARNING - FEDERAL OFFENSE > DAMAGING OR DISABLING ANY AIRCRAFT ON THESE PREMISES BY STEALING RADIOS, NAVIGATION EQUIPMENTS, AUTOPILOTS, ENGINES, FUEL, OR ANY OTHER PARTS IS, IN MOST CASES, A FEDERAL OFFENSE PUNISHABLE BY FINES UP TO $10,000, IMPRISONMENT FOR 20 YEARS, OR EVEN DEATH IF SUCH A THEFT CAUSES IN AN ACCIDENT RESULTING IN LOSS OF LIFE. THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION WILL BE NOTIFIED. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/8 "2005-05-07T17:35:40Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Went out to fly this morning and arrived to find out the airport was vandalized overnight! Maybe Mayor Daley is trying to expand his empire? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/9 "2005-05-07T17:46:39Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Went out to fly this morning and arrived to find out the airport was vandalized overnight! 45 runway lights ripped out of the ground (that was the first tip-off - an early arrival walked into the office and said “Hey, you know, most of your runway lights aren’t working and I think one of them is lying on the pavement”). I heard there was a problem like this in and around Phoenix/Mesa: some jackass would pull a pickup truck right next to a _live_ padmounted transformer, chain 'er to his hitch, and drive off. . . taking said transformer and a couple of hundred feet of copper distro lines with him. They’d then mangle the transformer enough, and turn both the wire and the cores in as scrap, and make quite a few $$$ off it. So, were they after the lighting, or cables too? Anyway, I just got “certified” in airfield lighting construction last year. I’ll be right over. Tripler :: runs to find his speed square, hammer, and bull float :: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/10 "2005-05-07T17:50:54Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > I’m just saying that at an airport like that, especially considering the nature of the other damage, it’s much more likely that someone was being a destructive asshole than trying to kill a couple random private pilots because They Hate America ™. Another possibility (and the one I thought of first) is that the perpetrator is someone who moved near the airport and decided he didn’t like airplane noise and became so pissed off that he moved near an airport, that he decided to take drastic measures to reduce the number aircraft using it. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/11 "2005-05-07T17:56:39Z")
Has the local news tried to blame it on kids who have played too much _Grand Theft Auto_ yet? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/12 "2005-05-07T18:17:42Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Maybe Mayor Daley is trying to expand his empire? _snort_ I guess he couldn’t get the bulldozers all the way out there under the cover of darkness, aimed for a different method… ---
**Author:** ![Maxxxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/13 "2005-05-07T21:46:41Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Even if it’s a small Cessna 152, if you fuck with any airplane that will occupy people, you’re being a terrorist. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. They weren’t being terrorists. Terrorism implies _using terror to achieve some goal_. Eg, smashing an airplane into two huge office buildings in order to achieve a political aim. THAT is terrorism. Fucking around with an airplane because you and your stoner mates think it’d be a hoot isn’t terrorism. Yanking some lights out of the ground because it seemed like fun isn’t terrorism. Trying to hotwire a plane to go for a joyride isn’t terrorism. It’s stupidity. Let’s not get them confused, mmkay? :rolleyes: Max. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/14 "2005-05-07T22:31:17Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Even if it’s a small Cessna 152, if you fuck with any airplane that will occupy people, you’re being a terrorist. Jeez. That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? Irresponsible, inconsiderate, yes, but terrorist, no. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/15 "2005-05-07T22:43:30Z")
I know the technical term for being a Terrorist is to have an agenda against a government or other groups of people and to cause havoc within. I guess I was being a little harsh. But come on now, if you knowingly mess around with an airplane with the intent to cause harm to future occupants, I think you’re a little more then irresponsible and inconsiderate. You may not be an militant terrorist, but I don’t think the mindset is too far off. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/16 "2005-05-07T22:44:58Z")
But you were sounding so dangerously _Republican_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/17 "2005-05-07T22:55:20Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > But you were sounding so dangerously _Republican_. 😃 I know this is the pit and all, but I think you’re going a little to far with this statement. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/18 "2005-05-07T23:23:15Z")
Here I am again. The damage to Bravo was minor and is now repaired. In fact, they were test flying it this afternoon. Discovered some corrosion in the exhaust pipe, but that was age, not vandalism. Someone yanked the fire extinguishers out of the C150’s and sprayed the C172 with 'em - had to clean up the C172 and check the fuel tanks for contamination. In fact, all the FBO airplanes on the ramp have now been checked for potential fuel problems, none found so far. The private airplanes at tie-down are the owners’ responsibility, but they have all been contacted, told about the damages, and warned to very carefully inspect their airplanes. The busted runway lights have been collected and a sign posted in the FBO that the runway lighting is now slightly less than adequate. Presumably, the FAA has been informed so this information may be disseminated to non-local pilots who might want to visit. In addition to the repairs to both lights and airplane(s), this little fiasco required the cancellation of all Saturday students and renters - that’s the loss of an entire day’s business and, since we’re largely weekend fliers, the bulk of the week’s business. All indications are that it was someone or some several just fucking around being jackasses, not delibrate intent to cause death, maiming, and severe financial loss. Say, some drunken high school kids. Yuck-yuck-yuck, lots of laughs, guys. The local sheriff is a tad embarrassed - the county helicoptors are based there and the cops have an airport office. They’re supposed to be keeping an eye on the place 24/7. Maybe someone picked a bad time for a donut run, I dunno. Or there was some other distraction. We’re unlikely to catch the culprits (and yes, the Mayor Daley comments were flying freely today) but if we do they may find that what seemed like a good idea on Friday after a dozen or so beers is not so happy a thing after the Feds get ahold of them. Granted, no one was hurt, but they could, indeed, be looking at $10k and 20 years. Not to mention compensation for airplane repairs and loss of income from shutting down a flight school for a day. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/19 "2005-05-07T23:54:11Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > Even if it’s a small Cessna 152, if you fuck with any airplane that will occupy people, you’re being a terrorist. By that logic, if you post on this message board, you’re being a mango. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814/20 "2005-05-08T11:24:39Z")
I think it’s odd that in the sign Johny L.A. posted, only damaging or disabling by \*stealing \*is listed as a federal offense. Surely damaging the equipment or adulterating the fuel is equally dangerous and deserving of punishment. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/motherfucker-airport-vandalized/302814.md?page=2)