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Ignition switch re-keying. Theft prevention

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RandomSquawk

Member
Recently a local RV-12 was stolen. Fortunately it was recovered a few days later, thanks to viral social media being the good guy for a change. Anyway, this event reminded me that we're all pretty vulnerable. Our keys are not unique, unless you went the EAB route and made a conscious choice about it. I'm fortunate to have a locked hangar and video surveillance, but not everyone can do that, and it's no good to me while "on the road". There's plenty of threads about the good & bad of locking canopies, but has anyone upgraded or re-keyed the ignition switch? It might be easier & safer to wire a secondary in series that has a proper key. Just curious.
 
RandomSquawk said:
Recently a local RV-12 was stolen. Fortunately it was recovered a few days later, thanks to viral social media being the good guy for a change. Anyway, this event reminded me that we're all pretty vulnerable. Our keys are not unique, unless you went the EAB route and made a conscious choice about it. I'm fortunate to have a locked hangar and video surveillance, but not everyone can do that, and it's no good to me while "on the road". There's plenty of threads about the good & bad of locking canopies, but has anyone upgraded or re-keyed the ignition switch? It might be easier & safer to wire a secondary in series that has a proper key. Just curious.
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It might be a better idea to have a hidden kill switch.

Aircraft ignition systems are extremely simple. How long would it take to Hotwire your ignition?

Edit: a simple toggle switch accessible through the oil door could disable your aircraft and unlike a RF fob based gismo, there are no batteries involved. .
 
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rockyfatcat said:
A simple switch could keep your mags grounded regardless of key-switch operation. Yes a thief could cut the wires, but given enough time, any car or aircrafts system can be defeated.
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Until said switch fails in flight and grounds the mags, killing the engine.

Insurance will buy you a new plane if yours gets stolen. Surviving an unplanned landing unharmed in hostile terrain isn't quite as guaranteed.
 
I don't think I'd be comfortable flying something that has a hidden (and unreachable) switch that could kill my entire ignition system. It kind of defeats the purpose of all the redundancy we build into these systems. Isn't that a case of the cure being worse than the disease?

I could see rekeying as a reasonable deterrent to make a thief go on to the next plane, but aircraft thefts are rare enough that I just don't see justifying an increase in my flight risk.
 
You might consider an unmarked Master Enable, especially if everything on the panel is glass -- very hard to fly without system power.
 
I've said it here before, but if you have a Cessna key you have about a 1:6 chance it will unlock and start pretty much any Cessna single. Likewise the key to my craftsman toolbox will open and start quite a few planes. If this were pervasive, half the GA planes in existence would have been stolen by now.

If it really keeps you up at night, then a prop lock chain when you're in tie downs is probably the simplest and best solution. It's relatively easy to defeat, but if somebody sees it on the prop they're going to keep on walking down the row.

I agree with Ravenstar. No mystery hidden switches or well intentioned additional failure points in my plane.
 
ravenstar said:
I don't think I'd be comfortable flying something that has a hidden (and unreachable) switch that could kill my entire ignition system. It kind of defeats the purpose of all the redundancy we build into these systems. Isn't that a case of the cure being worse than the disease?

I could see rekeying as a reasonable deterrent to make a thief go on to the next plane, but aircraft thefts are rare enough that I just don't see justifying an increase in my flight risk.
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Agreed, sort of.. any keyed ignition switch that combines both mags can fail at any time. This is why many folks like a separate toggle for each mag.
 
ravenstar said:
I don't think I'd be comfortable flying something that has a hidden (and unreachable) switch that could kill my entire ignition system. It kind of defeats the purpose of all the redundancy we build into these systems. Isn't that a case of the cure being worse than the disease?

I could see rekeying as a reasonable deterrent to make a thief go on to the next plane, but aircraft thefts are rare enough that I just don't see justifying an increase in my flight risk.
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Mags work only when they are not grounded. A switch keeping your mags grounded would keep them from making spark.

If your switch were to fail the kill feature would not work, nor would the mag drop for run-up.

A switch only accessible from the oil door as part of your preflight would open the circuit and ‘unground’ the mags.
 
RandomSquawk said:
Recently a local RV-12 was stolen. Fortunately it was recovered a few days later, thanks to viral social media being the good guy for a change. Anyway, this event reminded me that we're all pretty vulnerable. Our keys are not unique, unless you went the EAB route and made a conscious choice about it. I'm fortunate to have a locked hangar and video surveillance, but not everyone can do that, and it's no good to me while "on the road". There's plenty of threads about the good & bad of locking canopies, but has anyone upgraded or re-keyed the ignition switch? It might be easier & safer to wire a secondary in series that has a proper key. Just curious.
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You could add a canopy lock that uses a different key from the ignition switch. Couple of ways to add one, lock the canopy side frame rail or replace the canopy latch handle with a locking one. I added the side frame rail lock on mine.

 
I would suggest that a secret starter interrupt of some kind would be the safe approach.

All the talk about various ways to defeat mags is humorous given the context. Rotax motors don't have mags.
 
N8DAV8R said:
I would suggest that a secret starter interrupt of some kind would be the safe approach.

All the talk about various ways to defeat mags is humorous given the context. Rotax motors don't have mags.
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If someone really wants steal your plane they will likely do so. Keyed ignition and canopies are only there to keep honest folks from temptation.
 
Norman CYYJ said:
If someone really wants steal your plane they will likely do so. Keyed ignition and canopies are only there to keep honest folks from temptation.
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I generally agree. There is something to be said for being a bigger challenge than the airplanes parked around you on the ramp. Kind of like the old story about how you don't need to be able to outrun a bear, you just have to outrun your hunting buddy.
 
When I stay somewhere overnight, I hide everything loose and valuable, and put a cover on the canopy, but don't lock it. I figure if they're gonna pull the cover off, their next step will be to smash the canopy. I'd rather replace electronics than a canopy. I also believe the make it just a little less tempting than the other guys theory. YMMV.
 
Many years ago I rented a Cherokee and flew a few hours away for the weekend. The FBO at my destination moved the aircraft and lost the key…
I rang the owner and he just told me to start it with a screwdriver - “it might take a little force”
I was a little taken aback but he was right.
 
I simply can’t see how stealing entire plans makes much sense beyond some random joy rides and don’t see that as much of a risk to most of us. The real thieves will be after your avionics. Can be boosted in a few minutes with a hex key and a wide open market to sell them. They can even sell them at market value as no options for reporting as stolen, like autos. Not so much with registered planes. We had a band running through Chicago two years ago, hit 40+ planes at 5 different fields. Was bad enough that i was pulling my gps after every flight. Fairly smart group. They avoided the ramp plames and broke into hangers instead. More stealth and generally better avionics. Wore hoodies so surveillance video was no help. Fbi never found them, though doubt they tried very hard.
 
Flying EMT said:
When I stay somewhere overnight, I hide everything loose and valuable, and put a cover on the canopy, but don't lock it. I figure if they're gonna pull the cover off, their next step will be to smash the canopy. I'd rather replace electronics than a canopy. I also believe the make it just a little less tempting than the other guys theory. YMMV.
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a few years ago, 4 aircraft (my cherokee included which had a full cover) were broken into in my dark and sleepy portion of the ramp well away from the FBO. The bandits made off with several radios and GPS units across the burglarized aircraft. After the event, I initially had regret over leaving the plane unlocked, however I quickly came to this same conclusion that locking the door would have just meant a broken door to go along with our missing avionics.

The story had a happy ending though, I found my exact s/n audio panel on barnstormers a few days later which helped the feds nab the SOB, who was no surprise, a repeat offender. Still don’t know how he executed the snatch and grab job. Insurance paid for replacement equipment and the claim hasn’t been an albatross for us to bear on future premiums.

We still leave the plane unlocked….
 
Several years ago, I was a static display at an airshow with a WWII warbird. We were putting kids in the cockpit for a few bucks to raise money for a charity. I would let kids grab the stick, take a picture for mom & dad, give them a few minutes to play pilot then put the next kid in. I had one girl who kept touching everything and I told her at least twice not to touch anything but the stick. She turned her attention to the switch console, where she started flipping switches in line: she turned on the battery, then the generator, and was reaching for the starter when I yanked her out of the cockpit.

I thought about that scenario when I did the electrical design of my RV. On my RV, I have a push button starter, so I wired the starter solenoid through a starter enable switch to prevent an accidental operation of the starter.
 
ravenstar said:
I could see rekeying as a reasonable deterrent to make a thief go on to the next plane, but aircraft thefts are rare enough that I just don't see justifying an increase in my flight risk.
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Agree. Just consider how much of a sensation this one caused versus, say, an auto theft. I’m more worried about avionics theft.
 
On my RV, the ignition switch is keyed the same as the rail lock on my sliding canopy, so I was told (I've never actually locked it). I'm not saying that it is universally unnecessary, just that in decades of flying I can't think of a time that I've ever locked the canopy/door of the airplane I was flying. I park overnight fairly often at some pretty remote airports, perhaps I should re-think, but I agree with the broken door/broken canopy concept in addition to the stolen avionics. Much easier to slide an insurance-new Avidyne into the stack and fly away than to figure out how to replace a broken canopy.
 
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I'd rather use a GPS tracker.
Or Lie and put a sticker on the plane that it was so equipped...
I think the concept of "base rate" is important to understand before doing too much though.

Base rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
MacCool said:
On my RV, the ignition switch is keyed the same as the rail lock on my sliding canopy, so I was told (I've never actually locked it). I'm not saying that it is universally unnecessary, just that in decades of flying I can't think of a time that I've ever locked the canopy/door of the airplane I was flying. I park overnight fairly often at some pretty remote airports, perhaps I should re-think, but I agree with the broken door/broken canopy concept in addition to the stolen avionics. Much easier to slide an insurance-new Avidyne into the stack and fly away than to figure out how to replace a broken canopy.
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That is why I like simple planes with no electrics, nothing to swipe,lol.
 
Norman CYYJ said:
That is why I like simple planes with no electrics, nothing to swipe,lol.
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Certainly one way to approach the problem, but for my flying, potential theft of the airplane or components, given its rarity, isn't a compelling enough reason for me to modify my mission to that degree.
 
sansoneservices said:
Agreed, sort of.. any keyed ignition switch that combines both mags can fail at any time. This is why many folks like a separate toggle for each mag.
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Just FYI...there are AD,s on both ACS and Bendix ignition switches. The reason is they can fail in the on (open) position for both mags. I'd like to hear about it if anyone knows of a switch failure in flight. I'm very curious about that scenario.
danny
 
There is the old locked bicycle chain/cable lock around the propeller.
Or a very visible locked control lock over a control surface or 'locked' control stick lock.
 
I partially "solved" this by making the pilot do something unusual with multiple toggle switches before the starter will engage. It's obviously not foolproof and a determined thief would have no trouble figuring it out because my switches are labeled. But I think it would deter a casual thief or kids wanting to joyride.
 
Perhaps just leave a pile of cash on the glarescreen and hope that they take that and leave. 🤣
 
I pulled out the ACS switch for a simple keyed On/Off switch feeding a momentary push button for the starter. And latching toggle switches for the mag P-lead grounding. Just a safety that you can't get the starter to engage without flipping on the Master and moving the key switch to the On position. Also the benefit of being able to turn the key switch to Off after it is running to disable the accidental pressing of the starter button again while running. The ring on the starter button lights up with the key in the On position and its Off and disabled in the Off position. Removing the key when away gives me a tiny bit of comfort. Easily defeated but still feels like something more than leaving the keys in the ignition and walking away.
 
Don’t some VPX have the option of requiring a code to be entered to enable starting / running? I wouldn’t be willing to retrofit a VPX to solve this problem though. Good Insurance and leaving the door unlocked with a visible chain on the prop is the most palatable solution for me.
 
Just the thought of wrapping a steel chain around my very expensive aluminum prop brings tears to my eyes. For now I just pull the key from the Bendix ign switch and lock the door. Yes I'm aware of the AD on the switch 😔
 
MacCool said:
Certainly one way to approach the problem, but for my flying, potential theft of the airplane or components, given its rarity, isn't a compelling enough reason for me to modify my mission to that degree.
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It occurs to me after thinking about this thread that I have never even taken the key out of the ignition of my RV-12 since putting it in for the first start. I'm the guy that would leave it at home and not be able to go flying, or lose it. I don't even think of it as a key, it's a little metal tab that operates the start switch.

It's locked in a hangar and insured.
 
N8DAV8R said:
It occurs to me after thinking about this thread that I have never even taken the key out of the ignition of my RV-12 since putting it in for the first start. I'm the guy that would leave it at home and not be able to go flying, or lose it. I don't even think of it as a key, it's a little metal tab that operates the start switch.

It's locked in a hangar and insured.
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I will NEVER inspect or perform maintenance on an aircraft with the key in the ignition!
 
RV7CardenMike said:
I have a "hidden" in-line switch with the start button. Has ZERO effect on any essential electronics - only eliminates the ability to start the engine. This seemed to be the simplest solution. YMMV....
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Except for those who know how to hand-prop.
 
My good friend, Red Marron, used to keep a throttle lock on his Hawk XP. It could also be used on the mixture knob.
Worked pretty well. Obviously nothing is fool proof.
 
RV7CardenMike said:
Sure - an IO-360 with 10:1's Yeah, I'll take my chances on THAT one.
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I have hand propped IO 360's and IO540's with 10.1 and three bladed props. I put 1000 hours on my Pitts with stock 360 no starter and metal two blade. There's an excellent video showing how to prop a Luscombe by yourself with tail tiedown, parking brake, chocks and the fuel shutoff.
Hand propping airplanes since 1957.
 
Mel said:
I will NEVER inspect or perform maintenance on an aircraft with the key in the ignition!
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This is good advice. The systems in the RV-12 leave me fairly confident that it's not going to bite me in the same ways as traditional engines and systems. That's probably more than one of the hazardous attitudes creeping through and I'll re-think things.

The habit also comes from a good chunk of my early time being in antiques that didn't even locking ignition. Just a mag switch. But also no electrical system.
 
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