Nosey Neighbors

[triple8s]

Dont ya just hate the know-it-all that just HAS to give you all that unwanted advice and is forever more donating his opinion when you least want it or need it? I have been lucky to had a hangar rent with two silent parteners who I rarely see, the facilities are new and spacious and I've had them pretty much to myself. Well about a month ago a new "roomie" moved in and we've barely spoken as our schedules are not the same. Last night I was working on the overhead door and decided I'd push his A-36 back so I would have lots of room for error just in case. Well......it has a little cordless drill tug so it was no problem there but when I stopped it the last thing I did was to run my hand down the nice smooth blade and as I did I noticed, the blade was loose. I'm not an aircraft mechanic, but I do know this isnt right, one blade has almost an 1/8th inch of play at the tip, I mean you can feel the flange tipping back and forth in the hub. I checked it against the other two and they had zero movement, so I called the owner and explained, told him I am not a mechanic BUT......if i were him... anyhow. If you were in his shoes would you think I was "messing" where I shouldnt be? I really try to avoid touching other peoples things but if that blade were to let go it couldnt be a good thing and I dont want to be in the position of knowing if I had've only said something. 

The Nosey Mooney Guy

[orangemtl]

Perhaps best just to leave a note on the plane.

[jetdriven]

yes definately say something, you might save his life.  some people are clueless to airplane parts.

[rbridges]

Quote: jetdriven

yes definately say something, you might save his life.  some people are clueless to airplane parts.

[Amelia]

How DID the guy react?

I'd be grateful to be notified in time to get it fixed as soon as possible. On the other hand, if I were to show up two weeks later with bags packed, flight plan on file, family ready to go, hotel reservations made for a conference I'd already paid for, only to  find a note on my airplane, saying something like, "Oh, btw, your prop is loose" I'd be a mite distressed.

I'll bet it the guy thought it over, he was grateful for the thoughtful heads-up. If he was ugly about it, he's got a personality problem.

[John Pleisse]

A36 owners.......

I have been shopping for 4 years and I have rejected 3 in pre buy for, among many other reasons,  deficient airplanes and clueless owners.

Don't get me started.

[jetdriven]

There is plenty of snobbery over in the Brand "B" camp.  Must go hand in hand with paying 3,600$ for a strobe power supply, 10K for a set of gear doors, or 5K for a circuit breaker subpanel cause the light burned out.  Hey, your faminly rides in that thing, pay up. Only the best.

[PTK]

Hey folks, what's the discussion here?  Would you want someone to tell you if your prop was potentially loose. I know I would! I would be extremely grateful that a concerned neighbor brought it to my attention! I would buy them a couple bottles of whiskey too!

Do tell your neighbor!  We are pilots! We are mature enough to handle it!?

And if for some reason he gets bent out of shape and can't handle it you know the problem is not you telling him, but him and his immature self!

 

[skyking]

I am in the tell me camp. If somebody noticed something wrong with my plane i would be very , very grateful somebody told me. I dont want to be at 10,000 feet and find out the hard way.

[aviatoreb]

 The Nosey Mooney Guy

[scottfromiowa]

Not nosey.  Helpful.  The right thing to do.  I would be greatful to have someone tell me this.

[AndyFromCB]

Yes, I agree, I would call just like you did and I would leave a big note on the top, stuck with some tape too so it doesn't fall off. Imagine how you'd feel if they take off and crash and you didn't. If that's nosey, then so be it, if the owner has an issue with it, that's their problem, at least you did the right thing.

[201er]

I agree it's helpful and not nosey. But I'd be a bit worried of him accusing me of breaking something by pushing on the wrong place.

[John Pleisse]

I always cringe in a shared hangar environment....always moving planes around. A lot of coming and going is a set up for a litany of issues.

[fantom]

Quote: 201er

I agree it's helpful and not nosey. But I'd be a bit worried of him accusing me of breaking something by pushing on the wrong place.

[johnggreen]

One of life's truisms:  "NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!"

JG

[jetdriven]

 So true, so true !!!

[AndyFromCB]

John,

While I agree completelly that no good deed goes unpunished indeed, by that line of reasoning you're heading straight to hell for talking sense into me about flying over gross ;-)

Thanks Anyway,

Andy

[jetdriven]

Yes, shame on you.  The wing falls off on a Mooney when the same wing is rated at 3600 LBS gross weight or your same model has a 200 LB increase in gross weight based on a paperwork change. Shame on you.

[orangemtl]

I'm still in the 'leave a note' camp. It's responsible, nonintrusive, and gets the point across. If Billy Bonanza arrives at the airport for his transcontinental flight with family in tow, only to find a 'check your prop' note: then, perhaps he should examine his aircraft more frequently, or more carefully before planning a flight.

Perhaps I've become a nihilist; I have patients (improbably) cured of lung cancer, who go on to smoke thereafter because "well Doc, it's just hard to quit..." Some folks just don't respond to external cues like we think they should.

Most of us would welcome such a phonecall. Some will not. The supply of thanklessness in our world is nearly infinite. Choose your Samaritan gestures judiciously.