{"id":356724,"date":"2026-03-31T11:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356724\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:31:13","slug":"kaikohe-gliding-club-break-in-causes-major-damage-items-stolen-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356724\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaikohe Gliding Club break-in causes major damage, items stolen"},"content":{"rendered":"

He soon realised two Toyota RAV4s, a Kubota M8540 tractor\/mower, petrol, batteries and tools were missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first thought was, \u2018Well that\u2019s the end of the club\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thieves had cut through the corrugated iron and smashed the tractor through the hangar doors, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey just rammed the gliders with the tractors and cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

One gliders had been pushed through the corrugated hangar, breaking the tail off in the process. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey could\u2019ve done it without [causing that damage],\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n

\"DamagedDamaged gliders, missing equipment and a ruined hangar awaited Ken Tyler on Friday. Photo \/ Kaikohe Gliding Club<\/p>\n

The club was trying to get access to a mower so they could keep the grass cared for and the airfield open. <\/p>\n

It was the club\u2019s job to keep the grass mown. <\/p>\n

Tyler was meeting with the airport manager on Monday afternoon to brainstorm solutions about keeping the airfield open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want it to exist … I think it\u2019s important for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club had kept costs down by not insuring the gliders, he said.<\/p>\n

He said gliding was a \u201cgreat sport\u201d for young people to get into, and they kept things cheap at $15 per launch to ensure accessibility.<\/p>\n

\" The Kaikohe Gliding Club hangar was broken into last week. Photo \/ Kaikohe Gliding Club<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of kids wanting to get into aviation, but the cost is prohibitive,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Membership had been growing \u201cquite quickly\u201d, with 25 current members.<\/p>\n

Air cadets from Kait\u0101ia and Kaikohe also visited bi-monthly.<\/p>\n

\" A Kubota M8540 tractor\/mower was taken during the break-in. Photo \/ Kaikohe Gliding Club<\/p>\n

Tyler hoped they could get their hands on another glider so they could keep the club operational.<\/p>\n

The two-seat training glider was worth $100,000, and the single seater $80,000. <\/p>\n

An engineer was due to visit in the next few weeks to assess the damage.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the gliders that was damaged is worth $100,000. Photo \/ Kaikohe Gliding Club<\/p>\n

Tyler was troubled by how they would stop a theft from happening again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t make the hangar any more secure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Northland tactical crime unit Detective Sergeant Bart Graham said police were notified on March 27 about the burglary and inquiries were ongoing.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information is asked to contact police via 105 or online, referencing file number 260327\/7360. Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He soon realised two Toyota RAV4s, a Kubota M8540 tractor\/mower, petrol, batteries and tools were missing. \u201cMy first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,61686,13912,23604,11519,18836,22510,12474,15972,168369,58656,296,19474,30616,685,661,2510,111,43,139,1067,69,188198,13120,4736,2742,686,19135],"class_list":["post-356724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-breakin","tag-broken","tag-causes","tag-causing","tag-club","tag-damage","tag-dollars","tag-equipment","tag-gliding","tag-hangar","tag-into","tag-items","tag-kaikohe","tag-last","tag-major","tag-multiple","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-operational","tag-remain","tag-stolen","tag-thousands","tag-week","tag-working"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}