The 11 airplanes impacted belong to MacAir Aviation, a flight training school with approximately 30 aircrafts in its fleet and about 350 members in its Aero Club.
MacAir Aviation President Ross McNutt said six of the impacted airplanes are back online and flying as of Thursday. The company is waiting on equipment to get the rest of the airplanes back in the air again.
He said they’re trying to make lemonade out of lemons and used the thefts as an opportunity to upgrade some of their avionics.
While investigators are working to identify a suspect, McNutt said the person responsible appeared to be familiar with what they could and couldn’t take and were able to hit 11 airplanes in about half an hour.
The sheriff’s office said they believe the suspect was capture on surveillance and plan to release the images to the public when they’re available.
Greene County Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport said it has requested additional patrols of the property following the thefts.
McNutt praised the work of MacAir’s maintenance staff and instructors for their hard work adapting following the thefts. The maintenance staff was able to pull equipment to make sure the flight program was able to conitnue operating.
Our goal is to not let it impact students, McNutt said.
MacAir serves appoximately 200 students in its flight program, including about 100 from Sinclair Community College.
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