4-15-08, Some "FYI" for those following the theft of Falcon from the Andy Jackson LZ.

On May 14th 2007 a Falcon 195 was stolen from the Andy Jackson Airpark. It was part of a theft that included 2 other gliders and 2 solar panels from the LZ. 1 glider and 1 solar panel were returned to the LZ 1 week after the May 14 theft. Very curious.

The Falcon 195 (still at large) has been listed in the USHPA mag in stolen wings section for the past 8 months. The glider is silver leading edge (top surface) and red bottom surface at the front with red reinforcement patches with white on the rest of the sail. It is one of the early Falcons that had a glider bag with no red in the vicinity of the handles, but just red on the bag ends. It had 6" extension hang loops attached to the stock WW mains and a pair of snap wheels in the bag. Also there were a couple of scuffs on the left leading edge, one is a foot or 2 from the nose and the other a foot or more past the crossbar junction where a broken leading edge at the end of the leading edge sleeve allowed the sharp leading edge to cut through the sail. Both of these sail damages had been covered with some black sticky back. A police was filed with San Bernardino PD shortly after the theft.

On April 1st 2008 a glider that matched this description was listed for sale on Ebay. (are we having fun yet?) A couple of members from hanggliding.org emailed me about this sale (thanks). Pictures from the ad are shown below. I won the auction at 11:15 PM on April 8th. I have the seller's name, direct email address, and cell phone number. As of April 14th the seller has not been able to provide me the glider claiming that is is being sold for a friend and he cannot contact this person. On the evening of April 14th the seller has been made aware of the status of the glider being stolen and seller has been given until Thursday April 17th to provide for the return of the glider and information about the person holding the glider. Pressure to have the police begin their investigation will begin after Thursday April 17th.

Update 4-17-08. I have spoke with the seller at length about the glider and its status. I am convinced that he is willing to assist in its recovery and that he was not at all aware of the stolen status prior to me informing him. He is not able to contact the owner of the glider yet, but will be continuing to try. There is a chance that the actual holder of the glider sees this webpage and protects himself from being caught with the glider. So far we have a description as a tall white male in a green truck. He may or may not live actually in San Bernardino. Will update when additional deveopments arise.

Update 5-15-08. I've waited a month and the seller has not called back with additional information. Can't wait any longer. I have provided written documentation to the San Bernardino PD of what I know so far.

Update 5-21-08 The SBPD have called asking me to come to an address in Muscoy CA to identify the glider they have found. I did identify it and the wing has been recovered, and 3 arrests have been made including the arrest of the seller which in his case was on outstanding warrants. The glider location was directly across the street from the seller's address. Amazing how stupid the seller was. He knew the equipment was hot and he and the holders of the glider just sat there for this month with the glider in plain view in their back yard. What did they think I would do? Not contact the PD with the sellers info?