Authorities in Washington State are looking for a younger couple with a couple of fuzzy white dogs in connection with a string of airplane thefts in Auburn, near Seattle, that includes an RV-12iS built by local high school students. According to King 5 News the first incident involved an aircraft that was stolen in California, recovered at a private field, and then stolen again before it was finally secured by authorities at the Auburn airport. Then on Jan. 3, TeenFlight Puyallup’s newly built RV-12iS, which now belongs to an Auburn couple, was flown away at 4:27 a.m. After the transponder was turned off two minutes later it wasn’t seen for three days.
The two-place experimental was found at Corona Municipal Airport in California almost 900 miles and a really long day in the air from Auburn. It’s not clear if the plane was damaged at all. Although authorities have not yet linked the thefts, the new owner, Megan McLaughlin, said it seems likely the incidents are related. The couple is now trying to figure out how to get the plane back from California. Meanwhile, gate codes have been changed at Auburn Airport.
The RV-12iS was among the latest aircraft built by the students in a special after-school program that involves about 40 students per year. The sporty little RV-12 was built mostly in 2024 and finished in early 2025, according to the FAA registry. The airworthiness date was April 3, 2025, and it was apparently sold about six months ago.
For those wondering why the owners had their new plane on an open tiedown, the wait for hangars at Auburn Airport is about five years…..
Years ago, when working on an instrument CFI out at the now long gone Meadowlark airport in Calif, I was using a beautiful C210 for training. Went out one morning to go fly, no airplane. It had disappeared during the night and never seen again. You never know. I finished the rating using a C337 and a PAZT. I took a C150 over to LGB GADO for the check ride. Slowed it all down to more my thinking speed. GADO guy didn’t even have me put on a hood. In all that massive amount of VFR traffic, he wanted me to help him look for it. He gave me an intersection to go out to and hold. With all our BS and looking for traffic, I went zipping right past it. He said where are you going? I said ooops, returned to it and he said you pass, lets go back, land and get out off this mess.
Dude, I used to fly into Meadowlark for breakfast around ’67. Classic.
Me too. But by then I lived in HB. Would drive over there and have breakfast. Loved the place. My Meadowlark time was early ’70s while a controller at LGB.
Make a throttle lock out of some aluminum pipe or square tube and a good quality padlock. Depending on your throttle type, it may take some creative efforts. Yes, a padlock can be broken off, but any impediment might make thieves go to the next aircraft in the line.
They used to hang cattle rustlers and horse thieves….
The good old days…
…and they didn’t hang them for stealing animals. They hanged them so that the animals would not be stolen.