TonyT wrote…

>>two of the rocker switches are the mags, and people do not turn them off, no longer a key! So unless locked up easily stealable.

I agree with the points you make. All very good ones. But this particular aeroplane had standard key-operated mags.

You can see the standard Piper mags by key on the far (bottom) left. Many older taildraggers only have a couple of toggle switches for the mags. To be honest, anyone can steal a modern light aircraft [description of bypassing key-mags removed because I don’t want to give anyone ideas :)]…

… alternatively you can prime the engine, set the throttle and go out and swing it. Swinging an American light aircraft isn’t as easy as, say a tiger moth, as the prop hits the compression stroke at a horizontal position so you have to be prepared to pull back when it fires up.

Actually, the sort of person who would steal a plane would more likely break into the flying club building and get the keys. But stealing a Piper or Cessna (or any light aircraft, most likely) is a piece of cake if you know about aeroplanes (which I would guess all plane-thieves do).So it is odd that it so rarely happens. I guess the sort of people who would steal a car for laughs wouldn’t know what to do with an aeroplane so they just don’t give them any thought. It is also good that most aerodromes and unlicenced strips are away from towns and out of sight = out of mind. I spend a lot of my life working at flying clubs and on aerodromes and vandalism is very rare indeed. I never personally came across a incident of a stolen aircraft. 🙂