Advice for major repair

[jwsowles]

My brand new, to me, 170B was damaged yesterday when another AC broke loose in high winds and landed on top of mine. Question - if this is not declared a total and it can be repaired, do any of you have any words of wisdom regarding who does or doesn't do the repair. Specifically, do either safety or value of a plane suffer if the work is not done by a Cessna authorized repair station? Is there even such a thing for a C170? I have an A&P who I have 100% confidence in his quality and competence and has loads of experience with older Cessnas but is no longer officially associated with Cessna (used to be dealer and repair station in the '50s and '60s).

Damage is to bent fuselage skins, right horiz stabilizer, left flap ripped out, right aileron and flap torn, and bent right wing skins. Have not yet looked at spars, ribs, bellcranks or other internal (tomorrow).

Thanks for any thoughts.
John - - N4374B

[canav8]

John, where are you located?

[jrenwick]

It sounds like you're looking for an artist, not a repair station. That's why it's important to say where you're located. Knowing that, maybe someone in your neighborhood knows an honest, licensed craftsman who can assess the damage and make it right. "Cessna Authorized" doesn't have much to do with the real qualifications.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

John I'm in the same boat as you are in that I have a wind damaged airplane that is near the point of totaling from a dollar stand point.

I've gotten official quotes from two repair facilities and to be honest it never crossed my mind that they be Cessna repair stations or have any affiliation with Cessna except that of course they would have to have the proper tooling and expertise for the repair at hand. So no I wouldn't be concerned that they be a Cessna authorized shop.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[blueldr]

If repairs are to be made, I strongly suggest that you refuse any wing, contol surface, or serious fuselage repairs, unless thy are accomplished in a proper "fixture". (A "fixture" is PC speak for a "Jig".) Too many bench repaired airplanes tend to fly sideways.

[jwsowles]

Thanks all. Iam in Maine, tied down at IWI.
Very new to all this so appreciate your thoughts.
Some photos attached.

John Sowles, North Yarmouth, Maine

[mit]

Going to take some time and money to fix that! But it can be done.

[pdb]

John:

Sorry about the plane. The good news is that there are still plenty of craftsmen out there who can fix this up. Like the man said, its just a matter of time and money. The bad news is that if the owner of the plane which wrecked yours has insurance, the insurance co. may well total the plane, believing the cost of repairs exceed the value if the aircraft.

If they do total it, you may well be able to buy the wreck for a nominal cost and rebuild it yourself with the rest of the settlement money but be careful because if the insurance company has done their homework carefully, it will then cost you a bundle of money to rebuild, more than you have left. Then you have gone from an inconvenience to a real economic disaster.

That said, if you like projects, you have the opportunity to rebuild your plane to the standards you want. It may well cost more to end up with a flyable plane but you can control the quality of the rebuild if you are careful and end up with a treasure.

My plane had a major rebuild early in its career that required rebuilding much of the fuselage and wing. The quality of the repair work was first rate and it has been flying since the rebuild in 1964 and I have owned it for the last 14 years.

[blueldr]

From the looks of the pictures, your aircraft is a text book case of a job only for a source with a set of "Fixtures". The airplane is almost completely "Skin Stressed" and will have to be rigidly held to remove and replace so many damaged skins.

[jwsowles]

Thanks all. I'll definitlely demand a jig. I can't take on another project just now. I actually bought this and retired so I could fly cross country and visit my kids while I restored my T-craft BC-65 here at home. Too much to handle at moment. Guess I'll take it one step at a time and see what the adjuster says tomorrow. It is a beautiful plane. I love it and flying it so will do all that is rational to keep it flying. Dang.

John

[rhymes]

So sorry to hear about the mishap, John. I had (less extensive) repairs done to our 170B after a mishap , and feel that we have an even nicer plane from the work done.
There will be a silver lining, and these are great airplanes!

[voorheesh]

It is almost 3000 miles away from you but Delair in Porterville, CA could fix that. Harry has the wing jigs and Chris who works for him is as good a craftsman as you will find anywhere in the US. You could pull the wings off and truck it out here, then fly it home when it is fixed. There may be some good shops closer to you. Good luck. It definitely looks like it is worth saving.

[15A]

Tough luck on that one. But you are in 'my neck of the woods'
There's a guy down in New Bedford, Ma., that still operates the old Air Service Caravan! I just saw him just this week to make me a brake cable for my Champ.
He still has all the Cessna wing jigs and tooling to fix planes like yours!
His name is Albert and the company is now Aircraft Repairs Unlimited. 1-508-990-0166 email AIRREPAIR01@MSN.COM
I saw a luscombe that had been blown onto a hanger at KTAN that looked to me, JUNK! Al had it in his shop and re-skinned 90% of that fuselage, and it looked great! Might be the guy you're looking for.
Good luck.

[GAHorn]

John I'm in the same boat as you are in that I have a wind damaged airplane that is near the point of totaling from a dollar stand point.

I've gotten official quotes from two repair facilities and to be honest it never crossed my mind that they be Cessna repair stations or have any affiliation with Cessna except that of course they would have to have the proper tooling and expertise for the repair at hand. So no I wouldn't be concerned that they be a Cessna authorized shop.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Here's an interesting "twist" to this situation;
Bruce's airplane was damaged when his own tiedowns failed, so HIS insurance is on the "hook" to pay for it.

However, John's situation is that ANOTHER's tiedowns failed... and so presumeably the other aircraft's insurance will ultimately pay for the damage.

If John files a claim with HIS insurance (which I presume was done) then HIS insurance might decide to total-out his airplane depending upon his hull insurance declarations. (Ins. Co's. typically use a 70% rule....when the damage meets/exceeds 70% of the insured value the acft is totalled and the insured is paid the insured amount.) John's ins. co. will make the settlement and then subrogate/recover their losses to/from the other person's insurance policy.

But...... if John hires a lawyer and files claim against the OTHER aircraft owner for the damages...(or the airport who had defective tie-downs, etc etc).... in other words if John does not file a claim with HIS OWN insurance, but instead brings suit against the other aircraft, etc...... Then the liability clause of the other's insurance policy (which is very likely $1-Million or such) will be more likely to spend the money to repair the aircraft....and compensate John for the loss-of-use of his airplane and/or replacement-aircraft-rental.... while his airplane is being repaired.

(I'm not an insurance agent or lawyer, so I'm only thinking this "out loud" for the purpose of discussion.)

Whaddya think? Frank....????

[15A]

Hey John,
What did the other guy look like ???