Theft at Airventure 2012

I always had the feeling that things were pretty safe at Airventure, but that has changed. On Monday July 30, 2012, I took the fly off my tent to let the tent dry (the tent ws still up and staked with items in it)while I went to breakfast and also to visit some people. When I came back my stuff was dumped out on the ground and my tent was gone. Someone stole my tent between 0800 and 1130hrs. It was an LL Bean 4 man (blue) dome tent. It is a shame that this happened. I have gone camping at Airventure for many years, but this has probably put and end to my going there next year or ever again. The tent was set up near the "Beacon Tower" at the ramp entrance.

If you have any information I would appreciate it. No one would have mistaken it for being abandoned. EAA personnel did not take it either ,because when they pick up the abandon items they do not leave things behind. They remove everything.

Also, there were no tracks from the roadway to the tent (foot or car) so it is most likely a person that was on the camp grounds that stole the tent.

Additional Information:

I found out that EAA only had one person working security Monday July 30,2012, for the whole site and since that person is mostly at the exibits and flight line there are really no patrols at all in the camp grounds. For the people in the past that have asked where is security that is part of the answer.

Also, even though I did file a report with security I still have not heard from anyone at EAA Headquarters. You would think they would atleast say they were sorry to hear about what happened and hoped that I would visit again, but I have heard nothing from them.

I did not realize that I had foolishly left somethings in the tent and they are gone too. For those who said tents are cheap(some are cheap junk) that was an LL Bean Tent that cost $260.00. For me that is not cheap and there were more costs than that. The total is up to $600.00. I made a mistake, I thought I had put those items in my truck when I left the tent temporarily.

If I do not hear from the EAA Headquarters soon then I will know that they just do not care. If that is the case then my membership will not be renewed next year and I will not be back to Airventure.

I guess you can tell that this has been a very bitter experience.

Wow! Just wow!

There was another incident that was shared with me. A tent at HBC was ransacked. After spending considerable time cleaning up and taking inventory, the only thing missing was a diet pepsi.

This is one reason why I camp with a large group of friends. It doesn't eliminate the risk, but it does increase the chances of somebody recognizing somebody that doesn't belong in the tent.

This is an activity that really can't be tolerated. The stolen pepsi, was most likely some kids. But I can't fathom stealing a tent without multiple people knowing about it.

There was a police incident in HBC early in the week where a seemingly messed up individual (drugs were suspected - "bath salts") was banging on an airplane and screaming incoherently in the wee hours. The police and other security appeared quickly and addressed the situation after the whitey tighty clad airplane owner tackled the guy to stop him from damaging the airplane.

A trashed tent sounds like the kind of thing someone like that would do...

I had a tent stolen while camped at an airport (this was Seward, Alaska at the July 4 festival).
Yes it was a creepy feeling, like someone took my house. I had nowhere to stay and had to fly home that day.

But it won't stop me from tent camping at events, airplane camping is fun and tents are reasonably cheap.
They dumped my stuff as well. I was happy they didn't take my handheld transceiver and other stuff from the tent.

R C, theft at Airventure is so rare as to be almost unheard of, and also that you were only gone from your tent for a short time. For those reasons, as well as a tent being hard to transport and hide, ( you can't slip it in your pocket) , I would advise you to be sure and ask EAA about it. Since it was Mon. the day after the show ended , they might have moved it.

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Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood

Since it was Mon. the day after the show ended , they might have moved it.

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Visitors to convention, ahem, AirVenture often come to town and buy things here and leave them behind. Chairs, grills,tents. A friend of mine was fired from EAA for picking up something well after convention - I mean AirVenture - was over.

So many people come here and buy stuff and leave it behind, it would be shameful if somebody didn't try to reclaim the useful items left behind.

Picking up empty tents is one thing (we've got a small abandoned screen tent that someone in an adjoining campsite said we could have). Dumping out what is obviously an active campsite (clothes, etc...) is not picking up an abandoned tent.

I'm amassing quite a collection of spare camping equipment in the Oshkosh storage locker. I have three complete tents, an air mattress, and countless camp chairs. Fortunately it's a big unit and we actually set up one of the spare tents and used it for storing the chairs out of the rain and one transient visitor actually slept in it one night.

We've had a couple of bikes stolen in Scholler over the years.

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The police and other security appeared quickly and addressed the situation after the whitey tighty clad airplane owner tackled the guy to stop him from damaging the airplane.

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Man I'd pay money for video of that!