Rght out of the gate? Seriously???

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Bolter said:

I think this is a scam site.  They collected public info and put it into a page full of dangerous links and phishing pop ups.  I do not recommend clicking on it.  

My antivirus system freaked out when I clicked on that and blocked it, so I would concur, don't click on it.

[Conrad]

1 hour ago, Bolter said:

I think this is a scam site.

Sorry about that! I removed the link.

[Conrad]

I've also been thinking pretty hard about this accident. I'm an engineer, and I know I have more context than anyone else does about what happened here in part because I knew the plane and its maintenance history intimately.

The most telling clue of the whole investigation won't be found in the official report, I think, but on this forum. Fred described removing a clod of some major contaminant from one of the fuel tanks and he he poses a chilling question here that he never answers. What was it? And he also tells us what it was: it was dirt, or once it dried: dust. How did that get in there...? Cloudy fuel, dirt in the tanks, none of that tracks with my experience of this plane. Time appears to have changed something. A living thing, like an ant or a wasp, could explain it perhaps. The plane was in an open-air T hangar right next to a cornfield. If a tiny animal of some sort brought dirt into the tank there might have been a lot more of it on the inside than anyone would have reason to think there might be... And if they got most of it but not all of it, the post-crash fire could easily have destroyed the rest of the evidence of such a thing.

[Conrad]

On 10/13/2025 at 6:54 AM, Freddb34 said:

An inspection of the fuel tanks revealed a considerable amount of build up in the left tank (right tank was clean).  Plan is to remove the top panel and remove all of the debris (it's not metal or sealant...not sure what it is).  But once that's cleaned out, the AP/IA will test fly it and hopefully by Wednesday I can pick it up.

On 10/22/2025 at 5:06 AM, Freddb34 said:

Thanks and yes. There was some sediment built up into clumps that once the tank was completely drained and dried out, turned into a silty powder.  They got it all out by flushing it several times until it was cleaned.  Just happy to have my plane back and bring it south.