The AOPA Archer, SMASHED!
Margaret Puckette
I received call this morning from The City:
"Ms. Puckette? You the one with the plane in hangar
number 36? ...Well, we got a problem...there's been
some damage..."
Ohhhhhhhhhh, HEART ATTACK!!!
Last night we had some big winds off the coast, 35G60 (that's
35 kts gusting to 60 kts). Those gusts ripped off the metal
sheeting on the hangar, lifted the roof tracks, and blew the
doors down on top of THE ARCHER :-(. It was a sad sight.
When I drove up this morning, several city workers were out in
front with long faces feeling sorry for me and wondering what
to say; they'd all seen this plane in the paper; everyone felt
bad. Shiny gold spinner smashed, right wing leading edge smashed
in two places, both ailerons crushed against the back wall, flaps
crushed. What happens now?
I'm now a True Believer in hull insurance. The City's carrier and
my carrier (Avemco) will hash out who owes what amount, and the FBO
will handle the airframe repairs, but meanwhile I'll have to postpone
instrument flight training and lots of other things. Two other
T-hangars were damaged, but mine was the worst. Surprisingly, none
of the tied-down aircraft were really damaged, though several had
bent tie-down hooks.
My one small consolation, if you could call it that, was the *really*
sad sight of a Seneca that landed gear-up last night while trying to
come down in those 60 knot gusts. Can you imagine TWO bent props? TWO
torn down engines? I'm just sad; someone else is feeling sad
AND guilty!
*********************************************************************
Margaret "Arhythmia" Puckette
AOPA Archer N1939G - temporarily grounded
Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - annual inspection time
SHEESH! I may have to do something I've never done before - RENT!!!!
Barney Lum
Ooo, Margaret... So sorry to hear about your Archer :(( I'm sure those
of us that got to meet you and your bird really feel the pain too.
Hope it comes back out happy and healthy again soon! Heck... yet another
reason for a fly-in :)
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>|
>| Bar...@usc.edu Bar...@USCVM.Bitnet
--> --> --> | ======= --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
>| Permanent Student Pilot, On the Numbers
>|
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Bruce Taylor
Sorry to hear about the Archer, the pictures of it are wonderful.
I just wish that you'd taken the northern route back to home...
My crunch story: Watch out for neighbors in semi-isolated T-hangars.
Our club's Tiger recently got a fairly good dent on it's wing, just
outboard of the fuel filler.
The dent was apparently caused by the Cessna 310 behind us deciding
that the ice on the ramp would be a problem with his a/c lugger... so he
just fired up his engines, and powered out of the hangar!
This took one of his 'drip boards' (4x4' 3/8" plywood), sailed it
over the ~8-9' wall, and landed it on our wing. The mechanic says it's
flyable (it is -- I went to the SLR New Year bash in it!), but we should fix
it.
We either get to cut a new inspection hole, add stiffeners & bondo
(approx 2,500-3,000$), or put a new wing skin on (*labor* ~3,500$, 30 WEEK
backorder on skins, unknown price! Argh).
The shop said that it wasn't too bad, as we'd not had to cover any
holes with duct tape to get it there!
- Bruce Taylor [blt] (tay...@psy.cmu.edu)
Tiger 4514N, Cardinal 35241 (1/30th owner)
Carnegie Mellon Psychology
[snappy SWM .sig ISO filler material]
Jordan Brown
See what you get for keeping your airplane in a building? There are
things to FALL on it! If you keep it out in the open like us poor
people in high-rent districts do, all that can happen is that the
airplane next door can jump on it. (And people can taxi into it, and...)
:-) of course.
If it's just skin damage, it should all be completely fixable. (Maybe
new ailerons and flaps.)
Sigh...
--
Jordan Brown
jbr...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
Geoff Peck
extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT! [Funny thing. To put
myself in the proper frame of mind for a good, thorough preflight, I
thought to myself as I passed the fence "OK, now what are you going to find
wrong with the airplane *today*?]
It appears that a bullet went right through the top wing skin, and it's still
in there since there's only a dent in the bottom wing skin. Fortunately, the
bullet hole is not near any critical components (fuel tank, spar, aileron
cables or control rods, etc.).
The most likely theory is that it happened at New Year's. The area
surrounding RHV is notorious for having people shoot bullets in the air at
New Year's, and each year a few airplanes get to receive a few of the
bullets. Sigh. Fortunately, my hull insurance will cover it. The most
likely course of action is that the wing skin will be replaced, which will
then force the issue on repainting the airplane.
In article <2...@herron.uucp> jbr...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov writes:
> See what you get for keeping your airplane in a building? There are
> things to FALL on it! If you keep it out in the open like us poor
> people in high-rent districts do, all that can happen is that the
> airplane next door can jump on it. (And people can taxi into it, and...)
> :-) of course.
Unfortunately, things can FALL on it even in the great out-of-doors.
> If it's just skin damage, it should all be completely fixable. (Maybe
> new ailerons and flaps.)
[to Margaret...]
Having some experience in the matter, I'd suggest that you insist on 100%
all new factory parts -- no re-bending, no bondo, no patching. It may take
longer, but the insurance company will pay for it. Your airplane should be
as good as new when it's finished. Of course, you'll need paint, now...
Sigh...
Geoff
--
Geoff Peck, Apple Computer, Inc., MS60-E, Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 974-3184
ge...@apple.com {sun,nsc}!apple!geoff AppleLink: PECK.G #include <disclaimer.h>
Margaret Puckette
>Well, it's not anywhere near as bad as Margaret's damaged Archer (to whom I
>extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
>weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT!
>
>Having some experience in the matter, I'd suggest that you insist on 100%
>all new factory parts -- no re-bending, no bondo, no patching. It may take
>longer, but the insurance company will pay for it. Your airplane should be
>as good as new when it's finished. Of course, you'll need paint, now...
>Sigh...
>
> Geoff
How does the saying go? Good/bad things happen in pairs? I keep
reminding myself that I'd feel a lot worse if it had been my fault
and/or I didn't have insurance.
I am getting the estimate written for all new factory parts and
identical paint; it's come to a little more that $7K. Now comes
the wait...
***********************************************************************
Margaret "I'd rather be flying" Puckette
AOPA Archer N1939G - grounded
Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - disassembled for annual
Lars-Henrik Eriksson
> extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
> weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT!
Our aeroclub once had an aircraft shot *in flight*. The pilot never noticed,
but the next pilot flying the plane noticed a bullet hole through the
stabiliser when he was preflighting.
Neither we nor the police ever found out who did it or where.
Lars-Henrik Eriksson Internet: l...@sics.se
Swedish Institute of Computer Science Phone (intn'l): +46 8 752 15 09
Box 1263 Telefon (nat'l): 08 - 752 15 09
S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
Randy Smith
In article <14...@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> mpu...@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU.UUCP (Margaret Puckette) writes:
>I am getting the estimate written for all new factory parts and
>identical paint; it's come to a little more that $7K. Now comes
>the wait...
What a great time to study those IFR tapes! :-)
>***********************************************************************
>Margaret "I'd rather be flying" Puckette
> AOPA Archer N1939G - grounded
> Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - disassembled for annual
-Randy
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Rick Auricchio
>people in high-rent districts do, all that can happen is that the
>airplane next door can jump on it.
Watch it, jORDAN, this is a family newsgroup. :-)
Daddy, is that where the RC planes come from? ....
--
--
Rick Auricchio, Apple Computer Inc, 20525 Mariani Av MS 58A Cupertino CA 95014
sun!apple!rick OR ri...@apple.COM Mooney N894AR (408) 974-4227
Work is for people who don't know how to fly.
My opinion is my own. My employer? They use a windsock and a fire extinguisher.
Jordan Brown
> [to Margaret...] ... I'd suggest that you insist on 100%
> all new factory parts -- no re-bending, no bondo, no patching.
ABSOLUTELY! No question in the slightest.
--
Jordan Brown
jbr...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
Paul Cantrell
>in there since there's only a dent in the bottom wing skin. Fortunately, the
>bullet hole is not near any critical components (fuel tank, spar, aileron
>cables or control rods, etc.).
Well, at least it happened on the ground!
I remember one aviation non-fiction book I read where the pilot was flying
along and a bullet hole appeared in the airplane! Somebody on the ground
took a shot at the airplane! (actually I've read many non-fiction books
where this happens, but it's usually in a war - this was right around here!)
One of our local helicopter Designated Examiners was shot down last year.
Apparently a kid with a pellet gun shot the tail rotor off!
There are a lot of yahoos who don't seem to realize that there are PEOPLE
in those airplanes, or they don't really think they'll hit it, or something.
Pretty scary.
PC
Andy Stadler
>>
>> [..I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT!..]
>
>How does the saying go? Good/bad things happen in pairs? I keep
>reminding myself that I'd feel a lot worse if it had been my fault
>and/or I didn't have insurance.
>
I hate to be the one to say this, but doesn't bad luck usually come in THREE's?
There, now I've gone ahead and said it, oh damn, I'm going flying tonight....
--Andy sta...@apple.com
(Smiley's not even necessarily appropriate here.... mucho condolences to you
both...)
Bill Buse
> Well, it's not anywhere near as bad as Margaret's damaged Archer (to whom I
> extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
> weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT! [Funny thing. To put
From what I remember, the old Sky Ranch airport that was east of Aurora, CO
was located near a shooting range. It wasn't unusual to hear about planes
getting a bullet hole while in the pattern there. The worst story I heard
about from there was a plane being hit by a clay target, which did some
damage to the plane.
It wasn't unusual for one of Frontier's planes to get a bullet hole,
especially around those small town airports in Nebraska. I often
wondered if this was caused by some angry farmer, or someone bird
hunting in the area. I remember some of these incidences being
investigated by the FBI, but never heard the results of these
investigations.
Bill Buse
Brian M. Perkin
Revising the weight and balance?
Plugging the hole with duct tape and hoping the
new chunk of metal doesn't roll around into
a place where it can jam a flight control?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm just glad no-one was in the air near RHV
near New Years. They would have been too
tempting a target.
Brian
Dr. Daniel R. Masys
>Margaret "I'd rather be flying" Puckette
> AOPA Archer N1939G - grounded
> Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - disassembled for annual
Pairs? Oh no, it's actually *three's*. Run Margaret, run!
Dan Masys
ma...@mcs.nlm.nih.gov
Margaret Puckette
>In article <14...@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> mpu...@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU.UUCP (Margaret Puckette) writes:
>>
>>How does the saying go? Good/bad things happen in pairs?
>
>
>Dan Masys
Let's look at this problem: if good things come in 3's,
then there's still 2 good things out there, outnumbering
the one bad thing that is expected. I consider winning
the Archer a good thing. Any more good things to report?
********************************************************************
Margaret "Sunny side up!" Puckette (though down here it's cloudy)
AOPA Archer N1939G - grounded
Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - freshly annualed
Jonathan E. Quist
>In article <14...@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> mpu...@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU.UUCP
> (Margaret Puckette) writes:
>>
>>In article <37...@apple.Apple.COM> ge...@Apple.COM (Geoff Peck) writes:
>>> [..Margaret's damaged Archer..]
>>>
>>> [..I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT!..]
>>>
>>
>>How does the saying go? Good/bad things happen in pairs? I keep
>I hate to be the one to say this, but doesn't bad luck usually come in THREE's?
>There, now I've gone ahead and said it, oh damn, I'm going flying tonight....
Don't worry, you're safe. 7656X has been grounded since 1 Jan 90.
Our extension on our ORD Mode-C waiver expired, and weather finally
allowed us to get to our radio shop on December 31.
We just found out that the reason we're grounded is that we can't get
the 23.8 cents worth of CONNECTOR PINS we need to hook our encoder to
our transponder. Seems the connector in question is an obsolete type.
(Greetings and felicitations to now-defunct Radair Corp., and Molex, Inc.)
Apparently the guys in the shop aren't accustomed to board-edge
connectors....
If I'm lucky, a friend is bringing a suitable replacement connector
from his personal salvage pile. Otherwise, I have to spend an
entire $2.35 to order a replacement and build a wiring harness
for it. And wait a couple more weeks...
Our bad luck wasn't as catastrophic as the others, but it's still
annoying.
So, you're safe to fly for now.
Hey Margaret, I've heard of extreme measures to remove the dealer
stickers from cars, but was the AOPA logo as bad as all that? :')
(best wishes for speedy repairs)
jonathan quist
Robert J Woodhead
>Our aeroclub once had an aircraft shot *in flight*. The pilot never noticed,
>but the next pilot flying the plane noticed a bullet hole through the
>stabiliser when he was preflighting.
Last summer when I called Flight Service to get a briefing for a flight
to Ogdensburg NY I was read a "low flying bullets" NOTAM for Massena, where
the local Indians were demonstrating (they had started a casino on tribal
land and the state government was upset).
--
Robert J Woodhead, Biar Games, Inc. !uunet!biar!trebor | tre...@biar.UUCP
Announcing TEMPORAL EXPRESS. For only $999,999.95 (per page), your message
will be carefully stored, then sent back in time as soon as technologically
possible. TEMEX - when it absolutely, postively has to be there yesterday!
Margaret Puckette
>
>Hey Margaret, I've heard of extreme measures to remove the dealer
>stickers from cars, but was the AOPA logo as bad as all that? :')
>(best wishes for speedy repairs)
>
It's funny. At the convention, the folks from AOPA told me they
were concerned the winner would be upset about the logo and
would want to remove it. They had, in fact, debated whether to
do the job at all for this reason. It has been pointed out to
me numerous times that, if it wasn't for that design, this would
be "just another Archer".
*******************************************************************
Margaret "just another netter" Puckette
AOPA Archer N1939G - buried in paperwork
Hummin' lil Grumman N9646L - released from annual!
Claude Goldsmith
( extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
( weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT! [Funny thing. To put
( myself in the proper frame of mind for a good, thorough preflight, I
( thought to myself as I passed the fence "OK, now what are you going to find
( wrong with the airplane *today*?]
(
( It appears that a bullet went right through the top wing skin, and it's still
( in there since there's only a dent in the bottom wing skin. Fortunately, the
( bullet hole is not near any critical components (fuel tank, spar, aileron
( cables or control rods, etc.).
Fortunately it wasn't you that caught that bullet!
When I had my Mooney in a shelter at RHV, my neighbor
suffered a similar injury. His beautifully restored Piper J5
was the recipient of a bullet that came down through the roof
of the shelter and then pierced the fabric of the upper
surface of the wing. He recovered the bullet from inside the
wing.
--
Claude Goldsmith <cla...@leadsv.UUCP> | Opinions expressed are not
by twisted-pair (408) 742-7514 | necessarily those of my
via the ether - WB6UOO | employer.
through the air - Mooney N6416U |
Claude Goldsmith
> In article <37...@apple.Apple.COM> ge...@Apple.COM (Geoff Peck) writes:
( ( extend my condolances), but when I went out to preflight my Arrow last
( ( weekend, I noticed that MY AIRPLANE HAD BEEN SHOT!
(
( Our aeroclub once had an aircraft shot *in flight*. The pilot never noticed,
( but the next pilot flying the plane noticed a bullet hole through the
( stabiliser when he was preflighting.
(
( Neither we nor the police ever found out who did it or where.
was the plane fabric covered? I would think that a bullet hitting an
aluminum stabilizer would make a loud enough bang to get the pilots
attention!!
Lars-Henrik Eriksson
> was the plane fabric covered? I would think that a bullet hitting an
> aluminum stabilizer would make a loud enough bang to get the pilots
> attention!!
You're right. Funny no one though of that (or perhaps they did only I didn't
hear about it).
(Yes - it was a 172.)
John Eaton
>Our aeroclub once had an aircraft shot *in flight*. The pilot never noticed,
A couple of years ago a passenger in a commercial flight on final approach
did notice when a rifle bullet hit the plane and entered his leg. Police
were able figure out the trajectory of the bullet and location of the plane
close enough to make an arrest.
Thats also why the LA police department grounds its aircraft on New Years eve.
John Eaton
!hpvcfs1!johne
Kerry Kurasaki
"C I V I L A I R P A T R O L" on the lower part of the wing
so you could read it from the ground. Nowadays, the only marking
allowed on corporate or member aircrafts is a small decal on the
tail.
I surmise this was due to SARs over Humboldt county. (For those un-
familiar with Northern California, Humboldt County is reknown for its
cash crops). Farmers/Growers/Independent Businessmen would read "PATROL"
from these low flying aircraft and respond accordingly.
This leads to this trivia question: What's the fuel consumption of a
C-180 with three 7.62 mm holes in the fuel tanks?
Kerry Kurasaki
Bob Blean
enough to hear. I once got a fair dent (1-2") in the leading edge of
the horizontal stabilizer of a C-172 that actually tore the metal. I
don't know for sure, but I was OK departing a dirt strip and not when I
landed at the next strip (paved). I didn't hear anyting out of the
ordinary, and I didn't feel anything. No differences in flying
qualities. And I AM alert
of takeoff's -- especially frim dirt strips. The only thing we could
figure out was that
on the takeoff roll a main threw a rock at the tail. Kind of a freak
incident ($300+).