Belly Meets Blacktop requested Blog

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[Scott Ducey]

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[Scott Ducey]

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Belly Meets Blacktop – Blog part 4

Friday, June 12.

Just because the belly and blacktop had an unplanned intimate encounter on Tuesday doesn’t mean the rest of the world stopped changing. Wednesday our town was featured on The Weather Channel (rarely a good thing) for storms and straightline winds of 70-80 mph. We lost electricity and large trees but had no injuries and our house alarm keep howling at each power blip. On Thursday husband Ken’s Dad’s caregiver left a telephone recording that Ray had been in the hospital again but was released. Today we had the damaged tree with a large limb hanging over the house entirely taken down and half of two other mature oak trees removed because more storms were coming. The tree removal company inadvertently damaged part of the sprinkler system so that was added to the follow-up list, Ken’s Dad had been the hospital again today and back home. Our house’s east end March-installed heat pump and air conditioner failed and won’t be repaired at least until Monday. Today’s temperature is forecast to be 94 degrees with a THI of 107. So glad our bedroom is at the west end. Two units are normal in Texas – sort of like having the second airplane engine – more useful at some times than others.

I knew Webco was not an option for the repair work because they already had one massive renovation underway. If they did the work, it would be perfect but I knew I wouldn’t see the plane for at least a year and maybe longer. Bob knows I get antsy after having the plane down for 10 days and didn’t even ask for the business, he did however tell me, he had all the parts needed for repairs. Clifton Aero was shaping up to be the first choice but had scheduling issues but another Comanche mechanic with sheet metal skills said he’d go to Clifton just for this project so that looked like the combination would be a good fit.

The intensity and magnitude of just thinking about getting the Twin repaired was a bit daunting and stressful in addition to the other good stuff going on so I went to the gym, exercised and talked to neighbors about the damage at their homes. And then I settled down to talking to shop references and started working on the particulars of repair. Ken didn’t want me to ferry the plane to the shop so I called our favorite Twin instructor and asked him if he’d ferry the plane. He said yes.

I’d read up on the prop strike AD and it looked pretty ugly. It appeared to be required before flying the plane again however after talking with the adjuster and two mechanics, I got differing opinions. I contacted Charlie Melot of Zephyr Engines and asked his thoughts as he’d done the Twin’s engine overhauls and flies a Twin Comanche himself. Charlie had the background on that AD and also shared that it was unlikely that there was any damage to engines that don’t have counterweights. He also said that in order to perform that AD the disassembly in the field for a Twin causes just as much risk as leaving it alone, doing minimal checking and flying it to a shop for removal and then ship it to an engine shop for the AD compliance.

At the end of this day I learned again:
1. Just because someone says they know Comanches, doesn’t mean it is true.
2. Exercise is a great stress reducer.

All rights reserved by RTW, Round the World, A Motivational Company All photos taken by Patricia Jayne (Pat) Keefer unless otherwise noted

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Belly Meets Blacktop – Blog part 5

Saturday, June 13.

We spent some more time on storm cleanup. A bit rare to have to rake your whole yard in June because there are too many leaves and twigs down to mow it.

This was the day I actually got to speak with the friend of a friend mentioned in Wednesday’s email. He called and it was about a 30 minute conversation and it was quite a relief to speak with a restoration pro who freely admitted to the appropriate level of Comanche knowledge. He armed me with the certain knowledge that as the owner, I and I alone, had the choice of where repairs would be made on the Twin. In our family, make that ‘we, and we alone’ … we are very much a team.

Husband and I discussed the various decisions we’d have to make and their relative pros and cons. The three immediate biggies were: where to have repairs done, when to have the prop strike AD done and whether to have the wings removed to do a seamless skin repair. Between the two of us, we cover most aspects and are adept at arriving at the core trade-offs.

It took a few more days/weeks (so you’ll see this issue raised again as if it hasn’t been decided) and more discussion but we made the decision to leave the wings on and have the skin seams put behind the wing roots. The two major factors for us were:
• It takes longer to pull the wings, do the repairs and then put them back – about 3-6 months longer for a projected total of 6-9 months downtime. We’re both about 60 and expect to only fly for another 10 years so that’s 5% more of the remaining months to fly. Not worth it to us.
• I wasn’t confident that the wings could be removed and put back and the twin would fly as well as it did before the wings were removed. I place greater value on how the twin flies than how it looks – so does Ken. Not worth the risk to us.

For others who may face these decisions in the future – you may choose different paths for different reasons – the point of the blog is to let you know what decisions need to be made not that the decisions we made are the right ones for you.

Solely because the insurance adjuster was pushing to have the compliance with the prop strike done after the twin was ferried, I did more research on this. From a business perspective I bet his job performance measurement includes words like, minimize repair expense and maximize number of claims closed per year. As the owner, I was concerned about getting the repairs done right. This is built-in conflict.

At the end of the day I learned:
1. The owner determines where repairs are done even though the insurance adjuster will make you feel otherwise. This may vary by insurer or policy – it has in the world of car insurers for us.

All rights reserved by RTW, Round the World, A Motivational Company All photos taken by Patricia Jayne (Pat) Keefer unless otherwise noted

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Belly Meets Blacktop – Blog part 7

Monday, June 15.

Nine emails today and some incredible number of phone calls. I knew there was just way too much going on to keep track of each piece of the project in my head so every conversation had the date and time noted along with the key advice, information or decision made on a separate piece of paper. I used the perforated notebook paper so it was easy to rip out a sheet and stick it in the subject matter notebook tab in the three ring binders. I went through 375 pages of paper and filled two 1 inch binders

The adjuster asked that everything be documented electronically and contain ‘his’ file numbers for easy tracking. The only flaw in the logic is that if you ask questions by email and he’s out on another adjustment, the response can take days. I learned this in the past 3 business days. Here’s the 7 PM email sent to the adjuster and by her request, the insurance broker that covers most of the actions.

“This week I'll develop a standard project management form so that information will be more easily followed from week to week but I did want to give you an update today. Since I last spoke with Bob on Thursday - with the exception of storm damage cleanup, I have worked entirely on this project.
• My intent is to ferry the Twin to a Comanche knowledgeable shop with the skills and capabilities to repair it.
• I am becoming anxious to move forward because Decatur airport has no available hangars. They accommodated the Twin by pulling another airplane (a hangar rental customer) out of a hangar in order to put the Twin in it. Each time i talk with the Airport manager, he asks for an estimated time of departure.
• I shared the following update with the FBO owner and airport manager earlier today

Hi Fabio,

Thanks again for all of the excellent support we have received by you, your staff and the airport management. Mike doesn't have an email ID on his card so I'll call him with updates. I plan to give you weekly updates until my plane departs your location.

Current status is Accident has been downgraded to Incident and damage downgraded to Minor but may be upgraded to Substantial again if more damage is discovered. Plane is released for repair. I intend to ferry to a Comanche focused repair shop. All agree it was a gear collapse on landing and were complimentary of Pilot's normal landing technique as it minimized damage.

Since I have not been in this situation before, I have spent many hours talking with Comanche experts in California, Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana and the Bahamas in addition to working with my insurance company, the FAA and the insurance adjuster.

In order to make the plane ferry ready - at least the following will need to happen:
o Serviceable props installed
o Mandatory prop strike AD performed on engines
o sheet metal riveted on belly to prevent in-flight detachment of damaged skins
o gear needs to be reinforced. While it is towable now, it is not over center and cannot be used for landing
o A & P sign-off needs to be done for ferry approval
o FAA needs to approve ferry
o Insurance company needs to approve ferryable status
I know you cleared a hangar for the Twin's safekeeping. I am very grateful for this accommodation and am working diligently to be able to move the twin and return the hangar to you and the City for its use as soon as possible. Please call if you have any questions.

Pat (normal signature info deleted to make easier reading)

(At this point in the email I discussed what shops I was considering for the major repairs, and why I was not going to use his preferred prop shop because of two previous bad experiences.)

Bob, I'll be happy to host whoever you would like to examine the Twin and I would like this accomplished this week so that work to repair the plane can begin. The longer the plane sits, the more interior damage there is to idle engines. This is already the 7th day from the incident.

Thanks in advance for your response to this message and any outstanding questions from my first two emails.”

The early in the day phone call the adjuster made to me found him pushing his favored prop shop hard and trying to tell me the prop strike AD was a Service Bulletin rather than a mandatory AD. While Ken and I had decided after research to have the AD done after the ferry flight, the other person who would get a say in this was the repair shop and whoever ferried the aircraft. It was inappropriate for the adjuster to mandate that this work be done only in the engine tear down and inspection phase and try to persuade me it was an optional requirement. From my view, when I got off the phone, I felt the adjuster was attempting to bully me into acquiescing to his preferred path for repairs. I don’t claim to be an expert in this process so I called my insurance broker. She and I have a decade+ relationship and she had offered her advice and counsel.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have recognized that by not being able to scrap the Twin because of its appropriate insured value, the adjuster was going to have a lot more work to do with respect to this claim. In addition, because of his lack of Comanche knowledge, I had not ceded project management to him and third, I was not using his preferred shops. He was not a happy camper and it showed. My broker’s advice was to continue down the path I choose for the twin repairs and keep the adjuster updated. At times you will see that I ask what the process is for adjuster approval for my decisions, that is a process formality so the paperwork flows smoothly and all parties get paid in a timely manner rather than asking permission.

I’d also asked the retrieval company what they’d had to pound on with a hammer in the right gear well so I could know what was incident cause/effect vs what was done to make it towable.

I sent an email to Hartzell asking for a repair quote and a replace quote on the props.

The bright spot of the day came when I heard a Comanche gear expert wanted to come by and take gear measurements in a few days.

After talking with Tim Talley at Clifton Aero and another Comanche mechanic who volunteered to work at Clifton for the duration of the project, we’d decided Clifton Aero would be the repair shop. Even though that was our thought, we still had to take all the prerequisite steps of getting 3 repair estimates etc.

You’ll have noticed by this time I focused a lot of energy on the whole ‘Comanche knowledge’ aspect of repairs. My thinking is two-fold: first, I need to have confidence that the person who signs off the work has sufficient knowledge of how Comanches work to know when the job is done correctly. I am trusting my life to the work they have performed so I want to lower my risk by choosing a shop that has Comanche knowledge. Second, while there is always some learning/research for repairs on different aspects of different planes, I’m not interested in paying for the shop to read the Comanche service manual from cover to cover because they have no knowledge of this type aircraft. I weight these two aspects 90/10.

At the end of the day I learned:
1. All my large scale project management experience from IBM was going to come in handy. The binder was up to 15 tabs already and eventually would grow to two binders with 27 total tabs.
2. My optimistic approach to try to have this adjuster as a positive contributor to the successful repair of the Twin was not working. Plan B was to have a cordial enough relationship to make sure the adjuster was not a roadblock on the path to getting paid for the repairs.

All rights reserved by RTW, Round the World, A Motivational Company All photos taken by Patricia Jayne (Pat) Keefer unless otherwise noted

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