boppin

Quote: Immelman One question: did the fire damage any other aircraft? I see a cirrus in the background. I'm curious if the heat might have caused some sort of structural compromise considering its composite.

A couple of good points were made in relation to draining the fuel tanks and although I am no expert, I want to be clear on what was reported to me by the FBO just this morning as to what measures were taken during the fuel draining. 1. The bucket was plastic, but according to the chief of maintenance the bucket and the aircraft were grounded utilizing 2 grounds (one to the airframe and one to ground). I mentioned the concerns noted here on the board and he stated that they had a grounding strap designed to insure the plastic bucket was fully grounded. I have no idea what it would look like and did not ask for an example, but he was absolutely confident that the bucket was properly grounded, and from what the fire marshall has stated, he is probably right. 2. The defueling was done inside, with one hangar door open to ventilate. He mentioned that if he were looking for one specific area that he would do differently it would be to have both doors open for better ventilation. Why? See below: 3. The fire started, not in the draining fuel, but in the vapors. In fact, the original fire ball was under the fuselage on the ground away from the draining fuel. It then spread and caught the draining fuel and that was all she wrote. The current thinking at the FBO is that better ventilation (or, of course doing it outside) might have prevented the fire. 4. The source of the spark is the largest unknown at the moment. The leader in the clubhouse is, believe it or not, the creeper that the mechanic was on or the mechanic himself. It was a fairly dry day and static electricity is the current culprit du jour. Infinity is currently testing ways to insure the creepers are grounded as well. Keep in mind that this is not a "mom and pop" shop but a Mooney, Cirrus and Cessna service center and to put it in perspective, my airplane was the cheapest in the hangar (dollar-wise, of course) by 100Ks of dollars. They certainly have done great work for me (with the exception of burning my airplane to the ground) including pre-buy, avionics and maintenance and treated me more like a turbine owner than a mid-70s piston driver. That is not to excuse what happened here, but to emphasize the fact that if a shop like this can have issues draining fuel from airplanes, your local mechanic can as well. Heck, I changed my home airport to be close to them and paid a premium to have them do my maintenance! Interestingly, I am still considering them for my maintenance for any aircraft that I might purchase. In my mind I realize that having my airplane destroyed while in their care should require the "death penalty" for future business. But they treated me so well and their support before the incident (and, notably after the incident) was fantastic that I am still not ready to leap away from them yet. This is a dilema that I will work through over the next couple of weeks. As a note, they have offered to be my buyers agent to look for a new airplane and to do a pre-buy on any options (graitis) I might find. Good business sense on their end? Probably. But I appreciate the gesture none the less. Thanks for everyone's notes of sympathy for my loss. But, as I tell my kids, a setback is really an opportunity as long as you keep positive. It has been a tought 2010 so far; I was laid off in January and my airplane burned to the ground in March. But I formed my own company and now make more than I did while working and I'm sure I will end up with a real nice J model (the 252 thing is probably stretching it) at the end of this. Just another opportunity to improve my lot. Bob

Well folks, that did not last long... N7407V was sent to Infinity Aviation a couple of weeks ago for its annual. After going over the inspection with the chief of maintenance (not much to do), I was on my way to an overseas business trip and looking forward to the good flying weather. The next day I received a phone call that there was a fire at the hangar centered on my airplane and that N7407V was "gone". Apparently they were draining the fuel tanks in the hangar when a spark (they can't tell me how it started) caused the fuel to catch fire. The fire engulfed the airplane and destroyed it. The next morning I went and took a couple of pictures (they are in my photo gallery if you'd like to see the damage) and frankly, I'm surprised that no one was hurt or killed. I'm still a little stunned over the whole thing. I got back from my trip and cleaned out the hangar (it has a new owner now) somewhat mechanically. 22 years of waiting for my opportunity to own an airplane, 8 months of flying and in one afternoon it is gone. Insurance will make me whole financially, and I think I will buy again sooner rather than later (my wife insists that I buy a replacement) and that will make the sting of this go away. Maybe a 252... Bob

Another point to consider will be resale. I just purchased a 75 F model that the previous owner had updated with every speed/asthetic mod he could find. Although I am happy to have the mods, I bought the airplane based more on its avionics package than the speed mods. In fact, I bought the airplane for almost exactly what he paid for the modifications! A pretty big loss for him as he had them done in the past 2 years. I do like the look and I true out at around 150 knots, but for what you would spend upgrading a standard F model to something similar to my ride, you could get into a J. For the type of flying I do, I'll take a good GPS and autopilot any day.

Thanks for the welcome! I shopped for a mooney for the better part of a year and missed this one (only advertised on Barnstormers.com I guess) until this summer. Turns out he was right around the corner. Made it very easy. While it is fresh in my mind, if anyone is up in the north east, I highly recommend Infinity Aviation at Nashua, NH's Boire Field. They are a Mooney shop and their pre-buy inspection was so thorough that I changed the airport that I planned on keeping the airplane to be on the same field.

I finally joined the ranks last week. N7407V is a heavily modified '75 M20F with a Garmin 155XL TSO and a Century Triden autopilot. I did my mooney checkout and found the airplane a joy to fly. Still working on energy management at approach and arrival, and the site picture in the flare is fighting me just a bit, but that will come with time. As a type "C" convert (20 yrs in the shade), I did a lot of "waddling" down the runway after touchdown until my instructor reminded me that I was in a mooney and did not have to "pedal the damn bike" anymore. Ah, good times... 07V will be making a quick stop at the avionics shop to add a couple of items in the next week and then I should be good to go. To be added: JPI 700 (because I need it) Hard-mount a Garmin 396 (because I want it) Century GPSS (because I can) I look forward to conversing with you all in the future. Here are a couple of pics of my new baby. The rest are in my gallery.