Hurricane Irma

[flyboy0681]

24 minutes ago, jetdriven said:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned air mods. These are really the guys to go to for heavy structural work such as taking off wings and such. They do this all the time. One guy on here they took his wing off took all the skin off of it changed both spars and put it back together and I think it's somewhere around 50 grand

I did contact Dave. Again, just talking generalized ballpark figures, his assessment was 200 hours for installing a wing from an E that he has. He said I'd have to say goodbye to the fiberglass wingtips, among other things.

The other part of the equation is the tear down costs.

[RLCarter]

3 WINGS on Barnstormers and several aircraft being parted out

[jetdriven]

21 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

I did contact Dave. Again, just talking generalized ballpark figures, his assessment was 200 hours for installing a wing from an E that he has. He said I'd have to say goodbye to the fiberglass wingtips, among other things.

The other part of the equation is the tear down costs.

If you're committed to swapping wings, then it's easy to saw the existing ones off and load the rest onto a trailer.  It's getting scraped anyway  

I'd try to find a J  wing. different years had different fuel capacities and flush cover plates vs ones that screw on from the outside. 

You can put your existing fiberglass wig tips and ailerons on but it takes an outboard wing skin change on an older wing. 

Just some  thoughts   

[DaV8or]

1 hour ago, jetdriven said:

If you're committed to swapping wings, then it's easy to saw the existing ones off and load the rest onto a trailer.  It's getting scraped anyway  

I'd try to find a J  wing. different years had different fuel capacities and flush cover plates vs ones that screw on from the outside. 

You can put your existing fiberglass wig tips and ailerons on but it takes an outboard wing skin change on an older wing. 

Just some  thoughts   

Yeah, I have always understood that the wing tips could be put on any M20 C to present except the twisted wing F.

[MB65E]

Let's all looks for a wing for ya!! Mine was replaced in '97 due to corrosion gussing. Lovely 1 line entry in the log.  I'd almost rather have a factory undamaged replaced wing than a repaired wing. Although a properly repaired one would be fine. It's just the darn hourly cost of labor to fix it. 

How far do the wrinkles go inboard? It doesn't look like it bent anything inboard. Does the damage go thru the spar or is the spar compromised? What other damage is there? I'd  be worried about hidden damage in the landing gear system, etc. It climbed a little burm in the pictures I saw. 

It might be worth it to take it apart, take it to cole, max, or another good shop and wait on a donor wing. Maybe put a 6mo time stamp on it. There are enough J's flying that something  (unfortunately depending on who's side) should turn up. I would think your insurance company would rather wait than settle on a 116k claim. 

Just trying to think about other options rather than just state the easy scrap option. 

-Matt

[Bravoman]

I admit I haven't gone back and reread this entire thread but why not just push for the carrier to total it and get a new (used) plane? Seems like an awful lot of gyrations trying to put salvage wings on especially where the plane is located. Trying to haul it out of there to do it seems equally problematic and expensive, and I don't see the insurer ponying up for that. Even if all of that were done you'd still be left with a plane with a big time damage history that few would ever want except for peanuts. Just my thoughts, but again very sorry what happened to your plane.

[Hank]

If you replace the wing, there is no damage history; repairing the wing is what creates history. Or that's my understanding of it. Take one wing off, put another one on--show the damage or signs of its repair. It ain't there, it went to the junkyard.

[RLCarter]

10 minutes ago, Hank said:

If you replace the wing, there is no damage history; repairing the wing is what creates history. Or that's my understanding of it. Take one wing off, put another one on--show the damage or signs of its repair. It ain't there, it went to the junkyard.

The damage history would still be there (it's been reported), only the way it was repaired would change. 

[flyboy0681]

I must say that the responses here have been most interesting and run the gamut from fixing her to moving on and buying another and would make for one interesting round table discussion.

For once I agree with just about everything that my MS brethren have said and I believe me, I have wrestled with all of these approaches over the past two weeks. What I really would like to see happen is a complete repair of the plane because I've become so emotionally attached to her, but reality sets in if my partners and I have to pay out-of-pocket to make that happen in the event the insurance company comes up short. And as I have said many times before, the thought of obtaining a new one doesn't sound appealing to me because it would be very difficult to find one equipped the same as ours for anything less than, say, $135-150k. In this respect I'm talking GTN 750 and an overhaul with just 40 hours on it, in addition to numerous other repairs (including a recent $2k fix to the KAP 150 and $2,500 for Bramble to overhaul the HSI and gyro) and improvements we've made over the past couple of years such as new windows.

There is one piece of advice that I can give you all at this early part of the process - don't under-insure. I thought that we were well covered but when I started scouring ads for Mooney's in Trade-A-Plane, Controller and the like, I now see that the proceeds are going to be woefully inadequate in the event she's declared a constructive loss.

[jezzie]

Having flown in your airplane I can agree with you. The attachment that you get from purchasing the add ons such as the GTN750 and making this your  personal airplane are hard to overcome. I do have a wing from a 78 J and if you want pictures I can provide for you.

I have full US logs and Canadian logs.

 

Eldon

[mike_elliott]

I just rec'd a check from Global Aerospace for expenses from relocating a plane.

 

[RLCarter]

5 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Being a hands on kind of owner who both likes projects like this and doesn't really need an airplane, I would probably be lobbying the insurance company to total it out for all of the reasons you have already stated and then write me a check. Then I would bid on it and try to buy it back from them.  A savvy buyer so motivated could probably turn a profit from all of this. But it would be a lot of work and take a lot of time. 

As the owner I’m pretty sure you have the 1st right of refusal, they cut a check and you keep it, less money paid out but if you really want to keep it that is the best way, if not you get more money and stand the chance of not winning the bid

[flyboy0681]

1 hour ago, RLCarter said:

As the owner I’m pretty sure you have the 1st right of refusal, they cut a check and you keep it, less money paid out but if you really want to keep it that is the best way, if not you get more money and stand the chance of not winning the bid

Let's see how it gels.

[flyboy0681]

Here is the latest update.. I'm quite pleased to announce that the insurance company will be having the plane repaired. Just as some have suggested here, there appears to be no spar damage and the existing wing can be fixed and a salvaged one will not be necessary. Some of the factors that went into the insurance company's decision was the overall condition of the plane as well as its equipment.

This is a huge load off my shoulders because as I mentioned earlier, I've been scouring ads for something comparable and we would have fallen way short. Once  Six-One-Zulu takes to the air again (in approx 5 months), we will bump up her hull value.

Thanks to all of you for your support.

[carusoam]

Great Pirep, flyboy!

Best regards,

-a-

[bradp]

You may have a rental reimbursement clause in your insurance so you can keep flying with something somewhat comparable while she is getting repaired.  

[Bravoman]

Just out of curiosity how much is the estimated cost of repair? Also what is the cost of transport to the repair station? I believe the closest MSC is Cole Aviation in Dalton.

Also while I’m no expert in this area I wonder if you can recover for diminution in market value from your own insurer on a first party basis under these circumstances?

Glad you are getting to keep your plane!

Edited October 5, 2017 by Bravoman

[flyboy0681]

To answer bradp, there is a rental clause but it's only good for the first thirty days after the loss. Had it been good for, say, six months or a year, that would have been a great benefit.

To answer Bravoman, the plane is being transported to Air Services, Inc at KCTJ. They have a very good reputation and carry Class I, II and III FAA certification. At this time I don't know what any of the costs are but they weren't high enough for the insurer to call it a constructive loss. 

[rbridges]

On 10/4/2017 at 5:42 PM, flyboy0681 said:

Here is the latest update.. I'm quite pleased to announce that the insurance company will be having the plane repaired. Just as some have suggested here, there appears to be no spar damage and the existing wing can be fixed and a salvaged one will not be necessary. Some of the factors that went into the insurance company's decision was the overall condition of the plane as well as its equipment.

This is a huge load off my shoulders because as I mentioned earlier, I've been scouring ads for something comparable and we would have fallen way short. Once  Six-One-Zulu takes to the air again (in approx 5 months), we will bump up her hull value.

Thanks to all of you for your support.

Major thread detour, but in situations such as this, do they do anything to the motor since they know it will be months before it runs?

[flyboy0681]

1 hour ago, rbridges said:

Major thread detour, but in situations such as this, do they do anything to the motor since they know it will be months before it runs?

It's going to be torn down so that in itself will probably take a couple of months.