Read also Max Hardberger makes his living by stealing back stolen cargo ships, beating pirates at their own game from Haiti to Russia. John Crace talks to the ultimate repo man:
My father was a Sheriff's Officer in Australia a few decades ago. Not a cop - in Australia it's more akin to the Marshal Service.
One of his most memorable gigs was three days locked in the bridge of a supertanker anchored just outside the Port of Melbourne, him, a partner, supplies and sleeping bags. The tanker owners hadn't been paying harbor fees and had obtained a lien. But you can't just stop a tanker leaving if it wants to...
I made a Sheriff really upset at me once in Perth. A delinquent housemate of mine had some money owing, and had then left overseas. So this dude rocks up in full blown aviators and driving a F150 with the sheriff star on the side.
Anyway I come to the door in a cloud of pot smoke, and he's like "I'm from the sheriffs office" and I just burst out laughing in his face and told him he's "not in Kansas anymore bucko". And he was reaaally not impressed. I'd never heard of sheriffs or what they do in Aus before then.
I'm having some trouble with the idea that someone who does know the type can get in and just go flying! Airliners are not like cars, different types are very different. If you don't know the type, you couldn't even get things started without days of preparation. And one hours notice to get the paperwork done on an unfamiliar aircraft, owned by someone else, in another country - dreaming!
He has several tens of employees; odds are one of them will be familiar with whatever type is at hand for a particular job. He probably even hires specifically for that knowledge diversity.
Could you please not post flamebait comments or fulminate on HN? These things are in the site guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and your account has unfortunately been doing a fair bit of both.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/14/max-hardberger...
And let me recommend his semi-autobiographical Freighter Captain:
https://www.amazon.com/Freighter-Captain-Max-Hardberger/dp/0...
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2009/09/12/super-repo-m...
One of his most memorable gigs was three days locked in the bridge of a supertanker anchored just outside the Port of Melbourne, him, a partner, supplies and sleeping bags. The tanker owners hadn't been paying harbor fees and had obtained a lien. But you can't just stop a tanker leaving if it wants to...
By all accounts, uneventful, but yes.
Anyway I come to the door in a cloud of pot smoke, and he's like "I'm from the sheriffs office" and I just burst out laughing in his face and told him he's "not in Kansas anymore bucko". And he was reaaally not impressed. I'd never heard of sheriffs or what they do in Aus before then.
"Today Popovich, 56, is co-partner..."
"Popovich became a Braniff pilot in 1976"
That _is_ an incredible guy -- flying commercial jets at 6 years old!