Got an e-mail from a friend that was at the Hotel Serenidad over the weekend attending a Skywagon flyin. Seems that about 8am a Cessna 206 was back taxiing for take off when a truck pulled in front of them blocking their way, pulled a gun and made pilot and passengers get out. They then torched the truck and flew away!!

Go to the Baja Bush Pilot website for more details. www.bajabushpilots.com

Wish another plane could have followed them while giving positions reports via 121.5 and have a Blackhawk waiting for their landing.

Glad I am heading to Canada where there are no gun related crimes, yeah. Ford

...and just last week, Tim (qmdv) was telling me how it is safe down there???

What could I say that hasn't already been said. I know, it is the Americans fault, because we use the drugs the Mex e conos are going to bring here in the stolen Cessna.

Every day your above the dirt is a good day.

4/14/08



From The Aviation Crime Prevention Institute, Inc.



ACPI has just received a report of a armed theft of a 1978 Cessna TU206G, U.S. registration N756RM, Serial No: U20604296.



It occurred today, 4/14 at El Gallito Airport, operated by the Hotel Serenidad in Muldge, Mexico. This city is on the Gulf of California about halfway down the Baja Peninsula.



The aircraft was loaded with the owner, passenger and baggage at the departure end of the runway ready to takeoff. It was then surrounded by six armed men. The hijackers forced the people off the plane and boarded. It took off eastbound.

The aircraft is White with tan stripes. No other details are available at this time.

There was another theft from this airport in December of 2006.

A $5,000 Reward is offered by AIG Aviation Inc. for the intact return of the aircraft.

AIG contact is:

Seth Magid, Claims Unit Manager

AIG Aviation Inc.Scottsdale, AZ 85254

(480) 699-8485: Phone, (480) 699-8280: Fax

Or Contact: ACPI, 800-969-5473, [email protected]

patrol guy wrote:...and just last week, Tim (qmdv) was telling me how it is safe down there???

Hey it is safe in your scout cus it will not haul enough drugs and it is a tailwheel plane. The 200 series cessna planes are the plane of choice for the bad guys especially the 206.

Tim

Sad events.
Been to that airport several times since 1979. It has always been a lovely oasis after a long flight. Lots of the smaller strips in Baja are being closed/dug up by the government to deny them to the druggies. Unfortunate that they are then denied to us too and the druggies obviously are in higher concentrations at the remaining airports.

Think I'll post my puny useful load stats in big print on the Maule if I go there again.

I hate to say "I can remember when this was all fields", but not that long ago , the only thing you had to be careful of at Mulege was the wet spot near the south end and maybe breaking up a soccer game at midfield.

Here's my last landing there early last year (beyond the wet spot)

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The question I'm about to ask is sure to get this thread sent to hot air, but for those of you who carry, would you have defended your aircraft? Seems like in this case, even if you were packing, it would have been a no-win situation, especially with the passenger, which it sounds like was his wife...

At least they didn't kill them. Planes can always been replaced.

I would not defend my aircraft but I would die defending my wife and familly. I would also die to defend you.

One of the things that made this a great country was that we would not take crap from people or government. We are becoming a week people cus a lot of folks would rather bend over than fight.

Is that the responce you wanted.

Tim

The question I'm about to ask is sure to get this thread sent to hot air, but for those of you who carry, would you have defended your aircraft? Seems like in this case, even if you were packing, it would have been a no-win situation, especially with the passenger, which it sounds like was his wife...

If I was on my A game that day I'd have switched the fuel selector to OFF and hopped for the best...or worst, depending on your point of view.

quicksilver wrote:The question I'm about to ask is sure to get this thread sent to hot air, but for those of you who carry, would you have defended your aircraft? Seems like in this case, even if you were packing, it would have been a no-win situation, especially with the passenger, which it sounds like was his wife...

At least they didn't kill them. Planes can always been replaced.

Six armed men, at least some of whom likely ex-military? Yeah, right If you manage to live through the experience you end up in a Mexican jail for a year for weapons possession.

Now if they were assaulting a human being, that's another matter.

I'm not defending the sad situation in Baja (used to be one of my favorite places in the world - Mulege being my usual jumping off point) but the same thing could happen to you in your SUV at any intersection in the US. The difference being they'd likely shoot you and leave you for dead in the US.

Hammer wrote:If I was on my A game that day I'd have switched the fuel selector to OFF and hopped for the best...or worst, depending on your point of view.

I guess we can assume that if these bandits are scoundrel enough to plane-jack you, they probably don't place the highest value on checklists either. That's quality monday morning quarterbacking, Hammer. I was thinking more along the lines of the booby-trapped gas tank on the Mustang in Mad Max: Road Warrior.

A plane hijacking in Mexico.....Gee what a surprise.....Hammer, you go directly to Jail in Mexico if found with a gun and the bad guys know that americans don't carry guns...Maybe that's why they are so brazen... Who's gonna stop them.... .....Yeah it can happen here in the US too, but when was the last time you heard of a hijacking of a GA aircraft by six armed guys at any airport here....

Hammer, you go directly to Jail in Mexico if found with a gun

Who said anything about Hammer having a gun in mexico???

quicksilver wrote:The question I'm about to ask is sure to get this thread sent to hot air, but for those of you who carry, would you have defended your aircraft? Seems like in this case, even if you were packing, it would have been a no-win situation,

Here it is>>>

A man's gotta pick his battles, and I haven't met a Cessna 206 yet that I'd want to die for.

Now fuck with my 180 or 207... Then we'd be up to ramming speed and taking out as many as we could before they got me.

Gump

This seems like another good case for The SPOT. Hit 911 and slide it into the map pocket in the seatback.

Zane,

Problem with that logic is that your Spot couldn't see the sky, therefore it couldn't locate itself via GPS nor could it communicate. So sorry.

Simple answer to this: Don't fly your airplane to Mexico. In fact, don't GO to Mexico.

I have the very same rule about going to New Orleans, by the way, for the very same reason.

Sorry, you Mexico fans, but there is a pretty significant history of this kind of stuff, even in the "safe" portions of Mexico, and the Mexican government has never made the slightest effort to stop it (not that they could).

The simple answer is to fly somewhere they DON'T do this kind of stuff.

Like the Missouri Breaks.....

MTV

Aww, c'mon Mike. Not every plane that goes to Mexico gets stolen and some of the people down there are pretty durn nice.

But I agree with you on New Orleans. 100%

YB

Yellow,

How many planes do you hear being plane jacked in THIS country? How about Canada? Jamaica? Etc.

Don't go there. Take your tourista money somewhere else till the corrupt government and the people of Mexico are willing to deal with their problems.

Just my philosophy. I have NO sympathy for anyone who loses their airplane in Mexico, frankly. It happens with sufficient frequency that it should be a clue.

MTV

mtv wrote:Problem with that logic is that your Spot couldn't see the sky, therefore it couldn't locate itself via GPS nor could it communicate. So sorry.

Possibly. Probably. My Garmin eTrex has found itself and continued to operate inside my backpack. I guess it depends on the resilience of the software running the receiver.

There's no way you could get me to take my plane to Mexico..