“Hangar Final”

“Hangar-Final” (June 2008)

OK 842X is finally fixed and flying, and here is the post-mortem on the whole thing.

My hangar was built like crap. It was an old aluminum building with a roof that was simply corrugated metal that hung out a foot over the edge of the walls. There was no seal of any sort, at all, between the roof and walls of the hangar. It was just corrugated metal hanging out over the edge of the walls, with no seal. The result is obvious: Dust and rain would routinely blow inside and coat the plane, and when a microburst came along a year ago, the overhanging roof made the PERFECT air-scoop. It dutifully scooped up all that air, thus pressurizing the inside of the hangar as the microburst blew. The roof being secured as cheaply as you might guess, off it went! Buh-bye! Now, with no roof, the hangar was in a LOW pressure situation from the wind howling over the open top (Bernoulli! Hello!) What happens when the pressure falls? The door, being as cheap as the rest, collapses in and smacks my bird in the nose, knocking it into the back of the hangar. The repairs took a YEAR to complete. Now, if the roof of the hangar had been SEALED, then this would never have happened… the hangar would have withstood the wind just fine. Observe this slum in Manilla. Notice that this rich, enterprising home-owner has used the miracle of modern engineering to SEAL the roof of his house to the walls. I have circled this engineering marvel in red for you to gaze upon with envious awe. A gust of wind will not blow his roof off!

Anyway, our building code could not possibly meet the high standards of a Manila slum.

Now the financial cost to me: About $20,000 for the repairs to the plane. (Paid by me. No, I am NOT suing anyone else to pay for it. No, I do NOT have insurance.)

Now, does that mean I SHOULD have had insurance?
Let’s do the math.

I have been flying this class of plane for 5 years, and insurance would have run me $10,000/year for that 5 years.
Again, the repair was $20,000.

Now, there is the additional cost of not being able to see X-Plane customers conveniently for about a year… and having to take airliners instead. Would an insurance company have caused the repairs to be done quicker? Or gotten me another Columbia to use during the time mine was down? No and No.