Would you be offended if?

[William Flood]

...Your Comanche was parked at the airport, and another Comanche owner came up and had a look at your filler door seals while you were away... Assuming the curious Comanche owner closed them up correctly and no harm was done?

I walked up to another Comanche parked at another airport. Seeing as I'd had so much trouble getting the seals and fasteners just right I said I'd have a quick look. Kind of shocked he had no seals at all. Was it a liberty I shouldn't have taken? Or is it ok for a fellow owner to peek around another parked bird if he does not harm it. Not talking about taking off cowlings, just having a general look-see around for ideas?

[Andres Darvasi]

I wouldn't mind showing you anything if you ask, I would certainly mind if a stranger, without authorization, starts opening inspection doors or touching my fuel caps!

[md11flyer]

William, I agreee with Andres, Look but don't touch. I don't even want anybody getting on the wing and looking into the window.
I know we are all kind of brothers in the aviation community but I still think we should only check things out with the permission of the owner.

Kind Regards,
Gary

[Alejandro Cantarini]

If I see another comanche by my plane and a guy looking at my plane that's one thing, now if you open the door and I get you with my door open, believe me that would get you a bad moment.
I have a sign on plane very clear posted "do no touch" and after FBO screw my front landing gear includes any new employee.

[N3322G]

I agree with the other postings and would take it one step further. Since a 'looker' once damaged my plane by crawling underneath without my permission and in the process of getting up, he raised his head and banged the bottom of the aileron gap seal and dented it, I only permit looking under my guidance. The dent resulted in the gap seal wearing the paint off the aileron.

Hand prints on fuel doors give me alarm bells - did someone add fuel? did someone add something to the fuel?

Even at Clifton Aero, if someone else's Comanche is in the shop, I will look at it from a distance but not enter - even if the door is open.

[John Johnson]

I agree generally with the others: Look, but don't touch. If I see another nice Comanche in the parking lot, I may mosey over and even look in the windows. I'm always interested in interior and avionics ideas. But if I'm getting close, I'll put my hands in my pockets as a reminder to me, and a signal to anyone watching, that I'm not touching anything. I'll do the same for any airplane that I find particularly interesting. I do think it's unreasonable to insist that no one even approach your airplane, unless you've posted guards or encircled it with crime scene tape ;>)

[N3322G]

John,

I can see where you would think it would be odd ... sort of depends upon personal experience and how much damage you've had to repair from lookers - unfortunately, not all folks are as considerate as you and they just can't resist touching or leaning or exploring. The guy with the studded belt did a fine job on the leading edge paint. The gap seal repair from the head bump (a fellow ICS member at a fly-in) was expensive too. I'm not sure why folks seem to be particularly entranced by the tip tanks and it seems hard for them to resist opening them and looking inside - improperly replaced fuel caps dent the fuel door and bend the hinge so that it doesn't quite ever lay flat again.

The worst looker example I recall at the moment was during the 1992 Around the World Race flown by my Mom and sister. They were neck-to-neck with a turbo-assist 100 gallon tip tanked Bonanza after racing from Geneva across all of Russia etc and we flew AA up to the Frederick, MD stop as they pulled in with a broken heater. The shop kindly was able to fix it overnight as they were headed to Greenland and then over the Atlantic. As my sister and I pre-flighted, we noticed hand prints on the engine cowls. With the heater being in the nose cowl, there was no reason for anyone to be in the engines. Mom spoke with the mechanics and they told her the competing Twin Comanche team had inspected the engines when the plane was in their shop. The other team just couldn't understand why Mom and Nancy were scoring so well (it was CG and combined 43 years of race experience). Scary. Did they just look or did they tweak something? It was a lesson learned. In the 1994 world race, we did use packing tape to secure the engine cowls.

Reminds me of the Social Sciences high school class that I thought was soooo lame at the time. Miss Balma's theme was we are all shaped by our 'fields of experience'. At least these examples weren't as potentially deadly as the two different mechanics failing to secure the fuel line b-nut which caused engine failures on departures are very low altitudes after perfect pre-flight run-ups. Thankfully the flight conditions, terrain and pilot skills were such that both single engine landings were uneventful. So, every annual I ask the shop to torque paint the b-nut so I know it has been tightened ... fields of experience.

[tomburke1]

My father taught me to keep my hands behind my back in clear view when I was looking at someone elses airplane. What would you do if someone moved your airplane on a public parking ramp? Happenned to me at VRB. I raised hell. The FBO adjacentr to the ramp said threy had to move it to get an airplane out of their ramp. The airport manager said he has no right to do anything to any airplane on the public parking ramp. I ended up with a free top off out of it. (65 Gallons)

[tomburke1]

My father taught me to keep my hands behind my back in clear view when I was looking at someone elses airplane. What would you do if someone moved your airplane on a public parking ramp? Happenned to me at VRB. I raised hell. The FBO adjacentr to the ramp said threy had to move it to get an airplane out of their ramp. The airport manager said he has no right to do anything to any airplane on the public parking ramp. I ended up with a free top off out of it. (65 Gallons)