be on the lookout for a cheap (stolen) hangar

[fly_tornado]

How did thieves steal 50 tonnes of steel from Grantham?

 

 

GONE: Lockyer Valley Flying Club secretary Bill Hill looks across the Grantham site where the steel making up the club's hangar was stolen.Lachlan McIvor

 

by Lachlan Mcivor

 

AS BILL Hill drove past a familiar property in Grantham on August 18, he instantly saw that something was amiss.

 

The site, used by the Lockyer Valley Flying Club to house the steel making up their hangar for several years, had been ransacked.

 

The steel, with an approximate weight of 50 tonnes, was gone.

 

The club secretary said the group had moved the hangar from its original site at the UQ Gatton campus just prior to the 2011 floods and had been holding the steel on the Grantham property in preparation for their next move.

 

"The hangar had been dismantled and carted here and stacked so as we can come in and pick up the necessary pieces if a sale had been made or we were going to a new site," Mr Hill said.

 

"We could take those component parts out and just assemble it as required to put it back on site."

 

He was told by local farmers that two large vehicles arrived on the site and loaded the steel onto trailers but had not intervened, assuming it was members of the club.

 

How did thieves steal 50 tonnes of steel from Grantham?

 

 

[storchy neil]

Thanks ft i have known bill for over 65 years that will psssss him off neil

 

 

[turboplanner]

Suggest people post photos of the hangar, showing its shape and any distinctive features that might be obvious in a dismantled state

 

If they've taken it to Brisbane to sell to one of the steel recyclers there should be records; in Victoria Registration numbers, descriptions, and weights are databased, probably the same in Qld.

 

If rebuilt, someone will notice it eventually.

 

 

[onetrack]

Just mind-boggling. But the problem is likely to be, that the hangar will be re-erected in some remote farming area, and no-one will be the wiser.

 

Traffic cameras are a godsend to tracking thieves, but they need to know the date the hangar was stolen - and hopefully, not that far back in time, that all the traffic cam recordings have been wiped.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Just mind-boggling. But the problem is likely to be, that the hangar will be re-erected in some remote farming area, and no-one will be the wiser.Traffic cameras are a godsend to tracking thieves, but they need to know the date the hangar was stolen - and hopefully, not that far back in time, that all the traffic cam recordings have been wiped.

You would be surprised what items have been found in the past where thieves had thought they were safe forever; a lot of people are scanning aerial and satellite photos aside from the regular flights throughout the country, and that particularly applies in Cities, towns and Rural Shires who scan for illegal scrub removal; they just need some good, distinctive photos. For example if the shed hangars up on the Atherton Tableland highway were stolen and transported to Victoria, I would probably recognise them.

 

 

[onetrack]

Yes, I have to admit, nothing like flying around, and seeing from the air, what the thieves think they have securely hidden, from prying eyes on the ground.

 

 

[storchy neil]

I amLooking for some photos I have of the hangar in before it was dismantled it will stick out like dogs xxxx because of the colour boral green

 

About I think 20x25 mtrs doors at both ends could be longer

 

Being pilots looking down it might not be easy to hide it. neil

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I met Bill recently..he was picking up a engine for his Europa from the guy I got some of my 6061-T6 from for the Mabel rebuild. Had a good chat to him and his wife...He lives at the airpark..told me to drop in next time I was there.... A nice couple

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

Could have been washed away in the floods too

 

 

[storchy neil]

If you drop in on him Kyle ask bill about that little shovel he had back in the 60s Neil

 

 

[waraton]

Just mind-boggling. But the problem is likely to be, that the hangar will be re-erected in some remote farming area, and no-one will be the wiser.

In Prison, "Peter Thieving" is a term used by Prisoners who steal from each other. Although ironic in some respects the fact is that those who steal from each other in that environment are deeply frowned upon with swift natural justice often dispensed.

 

Similarly "Peter Thieving" amongst the aviation community should be seen as appalling if in fact this is what has happened. Surely this cannot be another Pilot responsible for such an act. Filthy thieving grub.

 

Post a photo of this hangar so we can all look out for it.

 

 

[onetrack]

it will stick out like dogs xxxx because of the colour boral green

You got to be kidding, right? It takes just a couple of hours,10 litres of paint, and a spray gun, to turn it into an innocuous Heritage Cream colour!The hangar wouldn't have been stolen, or used, by anyone in the aviation fraternity, it will be used as shed for farm or earthmoving machinery.

 

The fact that they owned two large trucks, obviously at least one fitted with a Hiab crane, leads to indicate someone in the scrap steel industry, earthmoving/excavation industry, or farming industry.

 

Scrap dealers are notorious for thieving and with little regard for ownership, they'd be first on my list of suspects.

 

 

[onetrack]

Anyone know what material the trusses are made from? - e.g. - structural steel (such as Universal Beam), pressed C-channel, or deep trusses fabricated from smaller section steel?

 

If we know of any distinctive features of the trusses and columns, we can keep a lookout for them. Sheds and hangars can be quite distinctive in their style of construction.

 

 

[onetrack]

Anyone know if this hangar in the Lockyer Valley flood pics, is the same building that was stolen? These poor buggers luck must turn soon.

 

Lockyer Valley Floods - 10 January 2011 - Lockyer Valley Flying Club

 

 

[Bernie]

boral green?

 

Maybe Bunnings flogged it.

 

Bernie .

 

 

[derekliston]

Unbelievable but one would have to say that there was a fair bit of brass involved as well! Fact of life though, if you turn up quite openly and look legit, no one will bat an eyelid. Back in the UK a long time ago I was asked by one of the local churches (I had a 30cwt VW van) to pick up from a solicitors office in Windsor, a safe that had been donated. Well my brother-in-law and I turned up, parked my white van on double white lines, went up stairs to collect the safe and managed to drop it down the stairs such that it got stuck in the stairwell. Well, in the hour that it took us to move it multiple people came up and down those stairs and climbed over the safe. Not one person queried our right to have the safe and I didn't even get a traffic ticket!

 

 

[onetrack]

The amount of construction equipment that gets stolen from roadside compounds and construction sites is staggering.

 

No-one bats any eyelid when a low-loader or tilt-tray turns up to a work site in broad daylight, and proceeds to load an item of equipment on - witnesses just presume its all legit transportation, and above board.

 

Many equipment owners just hire independent hauliers for their equipment movements, so no-one sees anything remiss.

 

Add in the fact that a lot of road construction works are carried out at night now, to avoid traffic disruption, and no-one sees anything unusual about construction equipment being picked up, or moved at night.

 

It must have been about year 2000, I was regularly on tractor forums, and quite often, forums where the users were U.S. based. One guy in the U.S. came on the forum, and complained about his backhoe having recently been stolen.

 

We got the details off him - his location, the make, the model, and in particular, the backhoes serial number - and I just set to, searching the 'net for that particular make and model of backhoe being advertised for sale.

 

You wouldn't credit this - but within a couple of days, I found this same make and model of backhoe being advertised for sale (a couple of states away) - with the serial number listed - and the serial number was nearly identical, except for one digit being different.

 

The fact that the different digit immediately appeared to be an easily-altered digit (can't recall what it was now, precisely, but it was something like a '6' turned into an '8'), raised my suspicions.

 

I advised the bloke what I had found, he sent the cops around - and sure enough, it was his stolen backhoe - and the cops made a big bust, because this blokes yard was full of stolen equipment!

 

The backhoe bloke was blown away by the fact that I had enabled him to recover his stolen backhoe - from the other side of the world - and to me, as an early internet and forum user, it was a amazing indicator of the upcoming tracking power of the 'net.