4 Planes Vanish in Theft Wave at Brackett Field

Forget about the Bermuda Triangle. Airplanes are disappearing from La Verne’s Brackett Field.

The small, county-owned airport has been the site of an unusual crime spree over the last 18 months. Among the items that have taken flight: four airplanes, piles of expensive aircraft radios, aircraft wing tips, an office full of computers and even the airport’s emergency crash response vehicle.

Total price tag: about $500,000.

“This place has become a supermarket for aircraft thefts,” said Vahid Mashayekh, whose Cessna 150 was the first aircraft stolen from the field.

“Brackett’s a crime hot spot,” La Verne Police Det. Steve Heinig said. “Basically, the airport is open to the public 24 hours a day, and there is the problem.”

Pilots complain about another problem--lax security.

“Without locked gates and patrols, all it takes to steal a plane is to be able to fly it,” said Hal Clark, a member of the Brackett Airport Assn.

Aircraft owners say plane door locks can be opened with a cabinet key or a can opener. Once inside, a person can simply switch on the ignition or hot-wire the plane. At small-craft airports like Brackett, the air traffic control tower is closed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., but many private planes still come and go.

“It’s a hell of lot easier to steal a plane than a car,” Bob Collins, president of the Aviation Crime Prevention Institute, said.

Last year, 42 planes were stolen nationwide, half of them in California, according to Collins’ nonprofit organization, which collects data on thefts and post rewards for the return of stolen aircraft. More than 150 planes were reported ransacked for equipment last year.

Thieves usually target larger, six-seat planes for drug running. But at Brackett, three of the four planes stolen were two-seat aircraft tied up on the tarmac.

Insurance investigators suspect that these planes are being disassembled and shipped to Asian countries. “The airport may be the victim of a professional aircraft theft ring,” said one insurance investigator.

Thefts occur at all five county-owned airports, in La Verne, Compton, Lancaster, El Monte and the San Fernando Valley, but the number of incidents at Brackett is unusual, said Ted Gustin, head of the county’s aviation division.

After months of vocal protest by pilots, county officials agreed to look into the problems at Brackett, the busiest of the county airports. In a report dated July 20, officials said they had met with leaders of Comarco Inc., the private company that manages the airports, and had agreed on a series of immediate and long-term improvements.

Pilots have directed most of their anger at Comarco.

They complain that many of Brackett’s 43 gates are unlocked, there are openings in the perimeter fence and no one is specifically assigned to work as a security guard at night.

The airport’s larger gates for cars operate on an aging electric card key system. Pilot Ken Irvin said he can use his garage-door opener to unlock the gates. A security consultant was recently able to use his ATM card to open a gate.

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Richard C. Loomis, Comarco’s senior vice president, said Brackett is well maintained and his company has taken appropriate steps to secure the airport.

“The record shows we have made a lot of improvements since we began working with the county seven years ago,” he said.

Loomis said his company has instituted an airport sticker program for authorized vehicles and added extra lighting. It also is installing more sophisticated gate mechanisms and devoting more of the night staff’s time to patrolling.

Gustin, the county’s head of aviation, said Brackett’s size--250 acres with facilities on both sides of the runway--makes it difficult to police.