Fullerton Airport Is Nation’s Capital of Plane Thefts

Thieves apparently descending from the sky have stolen four aircraft from Fullerton Airport since April, baffling investigators and making the city the plane-theft capital of the nation.

The thefts represent a fourth of all aircraft stolen across the country in 1999, according to federal officials. Authorities have no idea why Fullerton has been targeted but believe drug smuggling is involved.

“I think people are flying in, stealing these airplanes and flying out again,” said Rod Propst, the airport manager. Increased security measures such as recently heightened fences probably won’t stop them, he said.

All of the pilfered planes are small, single-engine Cessnas with limited flight range and less cargo space than the faster and larger aircraft usually favored by drug smugglers. None of the aircraft have been recovered, and authorities have no suspects. The aircraft have a combined value of about $200,000.

The situation has gotten so bad that a leading aviation security company now prominently warns plane owners about the Fullerton thefts on its Web site.

The crimes are all the more surprising considering that plane thefts nationally are at their lowest level in nearly 20 years. Twenty-six planes were stolen in 1996, compared with 241 in 1980.

Experts attribute the drop to improved radar tracking as well as a change by drug smugglers from air to land routes. But demand for stolen planes still exists, and Southern California airports remain a favorite target, officials said.

Thousands of planes line runways at the region’s general aviation airports, all just a short flight away from Mexico. Of the 16 airplanes stolen nationwide this year, at least eight were taken from Southland runways, according to federal officials.

“Southern California is not exactly the safest place to store an airplane,” said Bob Collins, president of the Aviation Crime Prevention Institute, which advises the insurance industry.

Fullerton police declined to release details of their investigation. Others, however, said the planes may have been stolen by Latin American drug cartels for use in training pilots. The planes make ideal training craft, experts say.

“Before you fly the big planes, you have to learn to fly the small ones,” Propst said.

Some experts believe that thieves focus on a small airport until the crimes attract attention, then move to another air field.

At Brackett Field in La Verne, four aircraft disappeared over an 18-month period in 1997 and 1998, prompting officials to install more sophisticated gate mechanisms and to increase patrols. No thefts have been reported since.

The thefts at Fullerton began in April, when a Cessna four-seater disappeared from the south side of the runway. It was parked within sight of the tower, the pilot’s lounge and the restaurant, as were the three planes stolen later.

Officials suspect that the crimes occurred at night when the tower and restaurant were closed. But they admit that a thief brazen enough can fly off with a plane during daylight hours.

Propst suspects that the thief or thieves are familiar with airport operations, because all of the stolen aircraft were in good condition and flown regularly. “The only way to verify which ones fly a lot is to watch,” he said.

Security measures at many, mostly smaller airports are often minimal, with sometimes only a small fence separating the runways from the street. Owners often leave planes unattended for long periods protected by only the simplest of locks, experts say.