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Related article: https://www.jalopnik.com/1932213/cessna-172-plane-stolen-twice-in-one-week/ https://www.jalopnik.com/1932213/cessna-172-plane-stolen-twi... --

Related article: https://www.jalopnik.com/1932213/cessna-172-plane-stolen-twice-in-one-week/ https://www.jalopnik.com/1932213/cessna-172-plane-stolen-twi... ------ Interestingly, airplanes can also get repossessed. Special pilots get all the legal paperwork arranged and just show up and fly a plane out. I suppose the high skill needed means that most pilots wouldn't want to steal airplanes, and it would not make sense to steal any airplane that needs special support from the manufacturer (the new owner can't keep it flying). Cars are much lower skill to steal and maintain and have a much broader market. https://aerocorner.com/blog/what-happened-to-airplane-repo/ https://aerocorner.com/blog/what-happened-to-airplane-repo/

sidewndr46 1y ago
From what I've been told by fixed wing pilots, flying a plane isn't really that hard. At least one baggage handler stole a commercial passenger aircraft recently and flew it out, including acrobatics. Flying one in a safe manner and following all the rules can be pretty difficult however. For example there is an area near me that is from the air as boring as any other part of Texas. It's controlled airspace because it is the Bush Family Ranch. The secret service will investigate you if you fly over it.
- dcrazy 1y ago
  Landing is tough because it’s somewhat counterintuitive. You need to maintain enough airspeed to avoid a stall but obviously you need to slow down to lose altitude and, you know, stop.
- crinkly 1y ago
  Yeah. I've been in an A320 simulator before for a few hours. They are pretty easy to fly and land. What isn't easy is getting one in a state ready to fly and to the runway. I can fly a Cessna 172 (didn't get enough solo hours for PPL though) and it's not difficult. Again prep is the hardest bit.
  - sidewndr46 1y ago
    Oh yeah for larger jet aircraft certainly it is. I read that apparently the SR-71 preflight was so big it was performed by a backup crew and the primary crew had the option to simply jump in and fly if the timetable required it. But a small single engine aircraft isn't nearly as bad
    - throwaway173738 1y ago
      Is the SR-71 the one that leaked fuel until it had warmed up and that required another jet engine to be attached to it to act as a starter motor?
      - crinkly 1y ago
        The latter is quite normal. There is an APU in most commercial jet aircraft.
      - sidewndr46 1y ago
        It actually used a pair of V8 car engines as a starter
- xenadu02 1y ago
  Landing the airplane in a way that you don't damage the airplane or yourself is another matter entirely. You can also easily get yourself killed through a stall/spin, flying into IMC/bad weather, etc. A lot of pilot training is how to plan for weather, check performance, handle emergencies, and not create chaos for everyone else.
- gbacon 1y ago
  Flying is easy. Taking off is easy. Landing is tricky.
  - philiplu 1y ago
    Never got far past my PPL decades ago (less than 100 hours total iirc) but landing was always such a fun dance in Pipers and Cessnas, slipping the plane into the cross-wind to line up the plane at the last moment before touching done.
    - gbacon 1y ago
      What’ll it take to get you back in the air?
      - philiplu 1y ago
        A 40-year younger body :-) I'm blind in one eye nowadays; highly doubt I could pass the medical. It was a fun hobby in my 20s, though.
        gbacon 1y ago
        You may be able to. Pilots with useful vision in only one eye may obtain medical certification upon demonstrating the ability to compensate for the loss of binocular vision and to perform airman duties without compromising aviation safety. The Aviation Medical Examiner should not issue a medical certificate of any class to a monocular applicant unless he/she presents written evidence of prior clearance by the FAA. The Examiner may assist the applicant in the initial steps toward obtaining the clearance by submitting a Report of Eye Evaluation, FAA Form 8500-7, along with the application, and any other available information from the applicant's treating ophthalmologist. An airman is considered to have monocular vision if the best-corrected central visual acuity in an eye is 20/200 or worse. https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/health-conditions/vision/monocular-vision https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/health-conditi...
- wavemode 1y ago
  The hard things about flying any plane are 1. Landing. 2. Knowing what to do when things go wrong. Any time you read about jets avoiding near collisions, landing in heavy crosswinds, landing safely after engine failure, etc etc, you have many checklists and years of rigorous training to thank for that.
- ultrarunner 1y ago
  Flying is easy to those for whom it's become second nature. At first it's really very difficult to get the plane to do (and keep doing) what you want (or what ATC instructs). At some point, you realize that you're holding a heading and altitude without really thinking about it, while doing a several other things. I think it really depends on who you ask and a whole host of other variables just how easy flying is.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
There was a terrible reality show about this. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808720 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808720

sidewndr46 1y ago

From what I've been told by fixed wing pilots, flying a plane isn't really that hard. At least one baggage handler stole a commercial passenger aircraft recently and flew it out, including acrobatics. Flying one in a safe manner and following all the rules can be pretty difficult however. For example there is an area near me that is from the air as boring as any other part of Texas. It's controlled airspace because it is the Bush Family Ranch. The secret service will investigate you if you fly over it.

dcrazy 1y ago
Landing is tough because it’s somewhat counterintuitive. You need to maintain enough airspeed to avoid a stall but obviously you need to slow down to lose altitude and, you know, stop.
crinkly 1y ago
Yeah. I've been in an A320 simulator before for a few hours. They are pretty easy to fly and land. What isn't easy is getting one in a state ready to fly and to the runway. I can fly a Cessna 172 (didn't get enough solo hours for PPL though) and it's not difficult. Again prep is the hardest bit.
- sidewndr46 1y ago
  Oh yeah for larger jet aircraft certainly it is. I read that apparently the SR-71 preflight was so big it was performed by a backup crew and the primary crew had the option to simply jump in and fly if the timetable required it. But a small single engine aircraft isn't nearly as bad
  - throwaway173738 1y ago
    Is the SR-71 the one that leaked fuel until it had warmed up and that required another jet engine to be attached to it to act as a starter motor?
    - crinkly 1y ago
      The latter is quite normal. There is an APU in most commercial jet aircraft.
    - sidewndr46 1y ago
      It actually used a pair of V8 car engines as a starter
xenadu02 1y ago
Landing the airplane in a way that you don't damage the airplane or yourself is another matter entirely. You can also easily get yourself killed through a stall/spin, flying into IMC/bad weather, etc. A lot of pilot training is how to plan for weather, check performance, handle emergencies, and not create chaos for everyone else.
gbacon 1y ago
Flying is easy. Taking off is easy. Landing is tricky.
- philiplu 1y ago
  Never got far past my PPL decades ago (less than 100 hours total iirc) but landing was always such a fun dance in Pipers and Cessnas, slipping the plane into the cross-wind to line up the plane at the last moment before touching done.
  - gbacon 1y ago
    What’ll it take to get you back in the air?
    - philiplu 1y ago
      A 40-year younger body :-) I'm blind in one eye nowadays; highly doubt I could pass the medical. It was a fun hobby in my 20s, though.
      - gbacon 1y ago
        You may be able to. Pilots with useful vision in only one eye may obtain medical certification upon demonstrating the ability to compensate for the loss of binocular vision and to perform airman duties without compromising aviation safety. The Aviation Medical Examiner should not issue a medical certificate of any class to a monocular applicant unless he/she presents written evidence of prior clearance by the FAA. The Examiner may assist the applicant in the initial steps toward obtaining the clearance by submitting a Report of Eye Evaluation, FAA Form 8500-7, along with the application, and any other available information from the applicant's treating ophthalmologist. An airman is considered to have monocular vision if the best-corrected central visual acuity in an eye is 20/200 or worse. https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/health-conditions/vision/monocular-vision https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/health-conditi...
wavemode 1y ago
The hard things about flying any plane are 1. Landing. 2. Knowing what to do when things go wrong. Any time you read about jets avoiding near collisions, landing in heavy crosswinds, landing safely after engine failure, etc etc, you have many checklists and years of rigorous training to thank for that.
ultrarunner 1y ago
Flying is easy to those for whom it's become second nature. At first it's really very difficult to get the plane to do (and keep doing) what you want (or what ATC instructs). At some point, you realize that you're holding a heading and altitude without really thinking about it, while doing a several other things. I think it really depends on who you ask and a whole host of other variables just how easy flying is.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

There was a terrible reality show about this. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808720 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1808720