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hangar damage

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0ptions

Active Member
Gents, bad news today on my newly minted -8. Only 44 hrs on the hobbs and my left elevator now needs to be replaced.

Summary: 989DS was tucked away while the airport hired commercial contractor painted the hangar roof. I even covered my yet to be painted 8 under 6mil plastic just in case rust ect fell from the ceiling. What happened next was not expected. Apparently the hired labor (now referred to here as "Meat-Head") unknowling walked onto the skylight and fell through. During his decent he brought along the fluorescent fixtures just moments before hung innocently 15' above my 8 and a Cessna 120. "Meat Head" made it to the floor landing a three point and the fixture met my left elevator. Damage was enough to bend my trailing edge, oil can and put a major dent above my trim tab and dent the tab slightly. No way to salvage but flyable.

Question: Contractor has insurance- this is good.

"Meat Head" survived - for now

I have pics of the damage and reports from the airport manager.

What next?

I am in no mood to re-build this surface, nor do I have time. What about the 49% pros.

My thoughts are to get three quotes for a new set of elevators and fly down to their shop for installation.

Otherwise I need to bill out my time as the installer and builder.

Any suggestions/wise thoughts/alternatives?

ANY HELP MUCH APPRECIATED.
 
local fbo?

how about offering the work to a local fbo/a&p? great way for them to earn some income, and you get a new part in the end. in the meantime, you can work on a meathead voodoo doll or something.
 
0ptions said:
(snip)I am in no mood to re-build this surface, nor do I have time. What about the 49% pros.

My thoughts are to get three quotes for a new set of elevators and fly down to their shop for installation.

Otherwise I need to bill out my time as the installer and builder.

Any suggestions/wise thoughts/alternatives?

ANY HELP MUCH APPRECIATED.
Click to expand...


There are probably hundreds of RV-8 elevators around the country that are not urgently needed, as builders still haven't finished the rest of the airplane. I know that mine were finished for at least six years before the first flight.

I'd bet that you could find someone with a partially buillt -8 or -8A who would sell you an elevator, ready to go. This would have the advantage of being much quicker, and there is probably somebody out there with a good set of elevators who needs the cash more than the part right at the moment.
 
You are out in Va, George Orndorff is just south of you now. He does excellent repair work for this type of damage and is really nice to work with. He even has an ad link here in the forums someplace.
Mike
 
Not that it will make it any better but Meat Head was in violation of the OSHA construction standard, CFR 1926, Subpart M, fall protection.

CFR 1926 1926.501 (b) (4) holes (i)
CRR 1926 1926.501 (b) (4) (ii)

Not to mention several others, but these two standards address skylights specifically.

As a Construction Safety Engineer and previous OSHA Compliance Officer, he, as most victims of a fall are lucky to be alive. Should you receive any stonewalls in your process to recover your loss, a complaint to your local OSHA office will be a nice tool to have. This type of injury and violation of the standard is completely avoidable and neglegent. It's one of the reasons workers compensation insurance is so stinking expensive
 
Ok first go to the pros and get quotes for the full meal deal to 1) Disassemble and inspect the entire structure for damage. Do not assume that the only damage is what you can see. Stresses can be transfered up spars and into other parts of the aircraft. 2) To build you a brand new spiffy elevator as well as fix anything else that may show up on a detailed disassembly and inspection. 3) Reassemble and paint.

Keep track of all other costs such as ferrying the plane, cost of quotes, everything.

Keep track of down time in terms of lost weekends of not flying. and or cost of rental planes (I'm serious here.) Your car goes into the repair shop your entitled to a rental. If you RV goes get into a fender bender you're entitled to some sort of lost compensation. Maybe this is your opportunity to try out that new C182 at the local flight school . . .


Now is not the time to be this guys friend by offering a cheap way out such as fixing it yourself or buying used parts. he has insurance and you're entitled to a headache free quality repair job and compensation for lost flying time.

Get estimates by pros is so important. They know what to look for and can often see a wack of damage that will slip past our eyes. They also know what a realistic time frame should be to repair something.

Once you get your quotes and the insurance company pays you out then you can decide whether to pocket that cash as compensation for your own time to repair or buy a prefab elevator or whatever. . .

Not sure what you are asking in regards to 49% but if you mean do you still qualify for having built more than 51% of the plane if you put on an elevator made by someone else? The answer is yes because you've already built this plane and qualified. In fact this will up your building experience on this plane not reduce it.
 
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Bad news!

Gosh Doug, that sucks badly!

I feel for you....it happened to me years ago at 52F (albeit with a car). For Doug Reeves (and the other local 52F guys), my uncle built/owned the hangar in the furthest NW corner of the field. It's now "Aerial Survey" or something like that.

I was buying a Porsche 911 Targa from my uncle, and the night before I went to pick it up, a strong storm blew the hangar door off the tracks. You guessed it, it landed right on top of my new 911! Man, I was sick to my stomach. I know how you must feel with this happening to your plane!

Good luck in the repair process.
 
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