A Georgia aviator whose plane was vandalized by thieves ended his weekend in Nashville in a depressed mood, even though he paid a company to monitor his plane.
To make matters worse, pilot Raymond Daniel said he was not given much help and was only offered a sandwich after the stressful ordeal, which cost him $12,000 worth of equipment.
Daniel and his wife returned to John C. Thune Airport last week to discover that their Beach 24 Sierra was one of several planes that had been compromised.
“She got in and noticed the avionics were gone. So we went back inside and they didn’t seem surprised when we got in there. And I told them there was a problem because they had already spotted four other planes in flight. He told News 2 on Wednesday.
Navigation devices, including a transponder and two GPS devices, had been stolen from the plane.
The airport told the couple they had footage of the suspect climbing the fence, but the plane was parked in an area where surveillance cameras could not see it.
But Daniel said that wasn’t a factor, considering he paid for a special service called Contour to park and watch the plane while he was away.
“We had to decide everything ourselves, including where to stay and transportation costs, but they didn’t offer us anything other than sandwiches,” Daniel said.
Fortunately for the couple, Daniel is an accomplished aviator who managed to figure out the 475-mile journey home by memory, as well as special clearance from the air traffic control team at Georgia’s Poole Farm Airport.
“Basically, we got home without radio or navigation. We just went through ground standards and got home,” Daniel said.
Airport officials told the outlet that staff identified the suspect and he was arrested in Missouri several days after the theft.
But the Daniel family’s expensive aviation equipment remains exposed to the wind.
Neither Contour nor the airport authority responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
