Thread about corrosion gone?

[redbaron1982]

I was mentioned on a thread about corrosion and when I tried to go check it out it seems to be gone. Any idea what happened?

[Echo]

Wow.  Another Mooneyspace mystery...

Slow clap to that...

Hey F owner, how about a little explanation?

[redbaron1982]

I hope he is not planning to "hide" the corrosion (and any evidence of it) and put it for sale...

[redbaron1982]

We need a system to track the history of airplanes, I guess it would be of great value for buyers...

[LANCECASPER]

Personally if I was going to make an insurance claim I would not post about it until the dust settles. Let's wish him the best!

[redbaron1982]

13 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Personally if I was going to make an insurance claim I would not post about it until the dust settles. Let's wish him the best!

Curious about this, is there any way an insurance company could cover this?

[LANCECASPER]

On 11/6/2025 at 12:00 PM, redbaron1982 said:

Curious about this, is there any way an insurance company could cover this?

Read the 2nd paragraph of the first post:

There's more info further on the thread as well.

[redbaron1982]

That's news to me! Thanks for sharing.

[1980Mooney]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

Read the 2nd paragraph of the first post:

There more info further on the thread as well.

 

1 hour ago, redbaron1982 said:

That's news to me! Thanks for sharing.

I believe the now vanished post was about a 1967 M20F located in Oklahoma.  The owner was distraught that during Annual with a new mechanic, exfoliating corrosion was found in both wings.  Based on the pics, the corrosion looked like it had been there quite a while so the last mechanic may have missed it.  There was the suggestion that this was from rodent urine.  Looking at his N-number on AviationDB, it appears that he bought it in late 2022.  Maybe it was missed in the Pre-buy also.

He posted pics of having just updated his panel so it looks like he poured a bunch of cash into the plane.  Quotes, based upon just pictures, were around $15,000 per wing.  Various MS'ers recommended Maxwell, Beagles and one other.

In his last post, he lamented that they was probably going to put the plane up for salvage.  He said that he was afraid that Maxwell or Beagles would give him a quote but the actual final price would be 2x to 3x more.  I responded to his post and said I didn't think that was how Maxwell operated and suggested that he contact @redbaron1982 for firsthand experience with corrosion repair.  Then everything was gone.

Edited November 6, 2025 by 1980Mooney

[redbaron1982]

3 minutes ago, 1980Mooney said:

I responded to his post and said I didn't think that was how Maxwell operated and suggested that he contact @redbaron1982 for firsthand experience with corrosion repair.

He did reach out to me, I shared the facts. For transparency, these were my responses to him:

> In a nutshell? It took 1yr to do the repair and it cost 2x the initial estimate. I can give you more precise numbers, as the invoice was 3x the initial estimate, but it included a annual inspection as well. He was not very responsive either (although I was not the type of customer calling him every week). He sometimes seemed upset by me calling. 

> On the flip side, the airplane flies perfect, no issues in the last 3 years since I got it back.

> I just checked my invoice, and the corrosion item was 25.5k, I think their initial estimate was 13k. 

> My corrosion was on the LH aft stub spar cap. They ended up replacing the whole stub spar, not just the cap. 

[1980Mooney]

2 hours ago, redbaron1982 said:

I hope he is not planning to "hide" the corrosion (and any evidence of it) and put it for sale...

As referenced above, in his last post before he deleted everything, he said he was going to sell it to salvage for parting out.  

[1980Mooney]

4 minutes ago, redbaron1982 said:

He did reach out to me, I shared the facts. For transparency, these were my responses to him:

> In a nutshell? It took 1yr to do the repair and it cost 2x the initial estimate. I can give you more precise numbers, as the invoice was 3x the initial estimate, but it included a annual inspection as well. He was not very responsive either (although I was not the type of customer calling him every week). He sometimes seemed upset by me calling. 

> On the flip side, the airplane flies perfect, no issues in the last 3 years since I got it back.

> I just checked my invoice, and the corrosion item was 25.5k, I think their initial estimate was 13k. 

> My corrosion was on the LH aft stub spar cap. They ended up replacing the whole stub spar, not just the cap. 

Yikes, 2X the original estimate.  And then the 1 year time related costs like Annual raised it to 3X?

[redbaron1982]

So, as the airplane was so long waiting to be repaired, the annual lapsed. So I asked Don to do the annual after the finished the repair.

Roughly, the cost was: 25k corrosion repair, 12k annual.

The initial estimate for just the corrosion repair was 13k.

[MikeOH]

11 minutes ago, redbaron1982 said:

12k annual.

YOWZER!

Any details on that?

[redbaron1982]

I stand corrected, the repairs were 28k, there was an additional 2.5k for painting the repaired areas.

The annual itself (no repairs) was 3k.

Then there were 6k of random items, like a wheelen power supply they had to change.

[Echo]

59 minutes ago, redbaron1982 said:

I stand corrected, the repairs were 28k, there was an additional 2.5k for painting the repaired areas.

The annual itself (no repairs) was 3k.

Then there were 6k of random items, like a wheelen power supply they had to change.

Honestly, That you still own and enjoy is a tribute to your perseverance. That kind of experience would absolutely have left the most rotten taste in my mouth for Mooney ownership.

[Shadrach]

4 hours ago, redbaron1982 said:

We need a system to track the history of airplanes, I guess it would be of great value for buyers...

you might be able to find it in the waybackmachine by copying the link from your notification and pasting it in to the waybackmachine search box.

[redbaron1982]

3 hours ago, Echo said:

Honestly, That you still own and enjoy is a tribute to your perseverance. That kind of experience would absolutely have left the most rotten taste in my mouth for Mooney ownership.

It did affect me a bunch, but I didn't let it knock me off my horse.

Edited November 7, 2025 by redbaron1982

[hammdo]

10 hours ago, redbaron1982 said:

I hope he is not planning to "hide" the corrosion (and any evidence of it) and put it for sale...

He’s not, Grant is not that way. I’m sure he has a good reason. He is dealing with options and deciding what to do next. We’ve been texting each other on options etc…

-Don

[M20F]

On 11/6/2025 at 10:56 AM, redbaron1982 said:

I was mentioned on a thread about corrosion and when I tried to go check it out it seems to be gone. Any idea what happened?

The thread corroded into nothing.  

[Jsno]

I was going to inform him that there is an E wing on barnstormers with recent tank seal for 14K.

[Justin Schmidt]

FWIW, if dealing with insurance it is best to have nothing online. 

[Meshach]

On 11/22/2025 at 1:18 AM, Justin Schmidt said:

FWIW, if dealing with insurance it is best to have nothing online. 

I’m curious why?

[gwav8or]

So, an update to the "missing" corrosion post.

I posted a topic about some corrosion that was found in the wings on my Mooney during annual back in October.  The mechanics found some corrosion in both wings during annual inspection and deemed the aircraft unairworthy.  Also during annual they found evidence of rodents in both wings.  Dead mice, droppings, etc.  I posted pictures in this group and at least one person here recommended that I file an insurance claim.  Some local folks that I know were also encouraging me to file the claim.

So, I filed the insurance claim and provided the insurance with everything they asked for.  Upon review of the information that I submitted, the insurance made the decision to pay for the repairs.

I took the plane to Don Maxwell in mid December and am now waiting on the repairs to be completed.  Thank you hammdo for picking me up and taking me back home!  

[Paul Thomas]

Thank you for the update. I hope you'll share details of the work, timelines, and cost associated to remedy the situation. Hopefully you get back in the air quickly.