Katamarino wrote:GAFlyer4Fun wrote:Katamarino wrote:When I park my 182 up in the UK, I think I'm going to be removing my avionics and taking them home with me. The thefts seem to be fairly rampant..
Where are you getting the reports to confirm thefts as rampant?
Entirely anecdotal based on what I read on here, compared to the lack of anything like this mentioned on US forums. It's in no way scientific, but given the fact that the US GA scene is probably 100x bigger, it's odd.
It is never nice to be victim of crime. Not many have been reported on here. Given the size of the UK GA fleet it is a tiny percentage so I think describing it as rampant seems an over reaction.
One way to reduce the problem is to remove the market for dodgy items so thieves turn their attention to something else.
Some owner pilots prefer un-certified aircraft to reduce the burden of paperwork and cost associated with the fitting of kit and its paper trail compared to a certified aircraft. They enjoy more freedom of what fancy new kit they can fit compared to all the hoops the owner of a certified aircraft has to go through. If certified and un-certified aircraft owners came together to support mandatory checks of serial numbers on a periodic basis and potentially on ramp checks, it could be a hassle/bureaucracy/cost to bare to reduce the market for dodgy units.
If it was truly a rampant problem we would be asking the avionics producers and database update providers and CAA etc to work together to improve security and processes to make a panel mount device unusable in another aircraft or block database updates, unless the legitimate owner of the unit notified them of the sale to a new owner or shop or installer etc.
As a community we could avoid inadvertently buying stolen items by always buying from the manufacturers authorised distributors or re-sellers. As some buyers don't like that restriction of choice and associate those outlets with potentially higher prices, and want more freedom of choice where to shop, perhaps manufacturers of panel mount kit need a database of stolen items so that legit second hand buyers have a way of checking that bargain price unit is not stolen, and legit owners have a way of knowing if someone is fishing about their aircraft unit serial numbers.