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Very SAD Day N622DR - V7A1467

LifeofReiley

Well Known Member
Well here we go... FYI please be advised, 40"'s of water, silt, sand, fertilizer, brush, etc. took her out! RV-7A, (AKA) Reiley V7A, Serial # V7A1467 was totaled and destroyed by flood on 05/25/2015 Memorial Day in Taylor Texas. AIG has TOTALED THIS AIRCRAFT! Be advised, the builder, manufacture has looked over the aircraft and states it is no longer airworthy and has been totaled by AIG insurance company. As the Manufacture due to damage assessment voids all Aircraft Operating LIMITATIONS in place. BUYERS BEWARE! AIG will have this plane, don't do it! :(
 
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That makes my heart sink... but I can't tell whether you're mad at the insurance company or what the "look out" is for. Perhaps a whole lotta emotions all mixed into one.

Whatever it is... you will build and/or fly again... we got yo back brotha!
 
I'm guessing the "look out" is due to the fact that the insurance company isn't going to make beer cans out of the wreck. Someone is going to buy the hull from them and turn it into a project.

That project might or might not succeed. It might change hands several more times. Future buyers might not necessarily know about its history.

If anyone googles "V7A1467" they'll find this thread, know the history, and make an informed decision about their potential purpose.

- mark
 
I'm not mad at the insurance company, they totaled the aircraft as it should have been. The aircraft had been sold and has new owner. AIG was their carrier. I was asked by the new owner as the builder/manufacture to assess the damage to the plane. I'm getting the vibe/hint that they will try and sell this plane for a rebuild. The massive corrosion started in less than 24 hours. The airframe is Not Airworthy after this event.
 
I'm not mad at the insurance company, they totaled the aircraft as it should have been. The aircraft had been sold and has new owner. AIG was their carrier. I was asked by the new owner as the builder/manufacture to assess the damage to the plane. I'm getting the vibe/hint that they will try and sell this plane for a rebuild. The massive corrosion started in less than 24 hours. The airframe is Not Airworthy after this event.

It isn't airworthy but that won't deter scroungers.

Back in '93 a flood devastated the St Louis area. Local feeder airports were under water for some time that summer.

I had built, flown and retired a LEZ in favor of building a Cozy MKIV. The LEZ was donated to a local museum and stored disassembled at one of those flooded airports. Most of airplane ended up in local corn fields or going down the Mississippi River. Some parts were rescued locally, the fuselage went down the river, to the best of my knowledge.

A couple years later I flew in the Cozy to the annual canard gathering at Rough River. There, on a trailer, was my LEZ fuselage being offered for sale!? It had the metal ID plate still attached. I could not believe it.

I put a message out on the canard forum about the history of that fuselage, but someone bought it.

Hopefully it is residing in a barn somewhere, a part of miscellaneous used airplane parts. :)
 
Salvage

Some times I see salvage auctions and the logs and data plate are not included .
If AIG or other insurance companies total your plane I wonder if removing the Data Plate before you hand the plane over is an option ?
I gave a guy buy figure on a 206 Amphib that was used in salt , corrosion out the wazoo . He is a celebrity and was selling the plane without the data plate for liability reasons .
 
From the FAA Registry Web Site...

Deregistered Aircraft
An aircraft that has been removed from the U.S. Civil Aircraft Register at the owner's request. Aircraft are generally removed for the following reasons: exported, destroyed, salvaged, dismantled, or permanently retired from service.



It seems the owner is on the hook for a de-registration and sounds like a good thing to do...
 
My condolences on your loss. It must be really, really hard to see something that you worked so long and so hard to build ruined by something like that. I'm happy to hear that at least your insurance company has settled. I hope whatever you decide to do, you're back in the air soon and that whoever buys the salvage of your old plane is able to safely use whatever parts still have life left in them - whether that is in other airplanes or as decorative art.
 
Some times I see salvage auctions and the logs and data plate are not included .
If AIG or other insurance companies total your plane I wonder if removing the Data Plate before you hand the plane over is an option ?
I gave a guy buy figure on a 206 Amphib that was used in salt , corrosion out the wazoo . He is a celebrity and was selling the plane without the data plate for liability reasons .

TW... the adjuster told me the data plate HAD to stay with the plane and that I could not drill it off. We are digging a lot deeper into this thought process. The aircraft has been disassembled (get this by the same guy, yes the adjuster and two other men) and hauled away. It took 8+ hours on the ramp for the three men to get the spar bolts removed in order to pull the wings off the plane for salvage transport.
 
Deregistered Aircraft
An aircraft that has been removed from the U.S. Civil Aircraft Register at the owner's request. Aircraft are generally removed for the following reasons: exported, destroyed, salvaged, dismantled, or permanently retired from service.
Unfortunately it sounds like the insurance company has settled, which will mean that the aircraft is now owned by the insurance company. The builder can no longer strike it from the register as he's not the owner. Ditto for removing the data plate.
 
Unfortunately it sounds like the insurance company has settled, which will mean that the aircraft is now owned by the insurance company. The builder can no longer strike it from the register as he's not the owner. Ditto for removing the data plate.

Only if a FAA Form 8050-2 (Bill of Sale) has been completed.

Do the insurance companies always use that form?
 
When I had a total loss... the insurance company wanted a bill of sale signed and logs delivered. They also told me... off the record, what the salvage company was going to pay. They said I could bid just a bit higher, in case I wanted to do the rebuild myself. I don't know if this is common, it might have been a case of "nice guy" agent.
 
Only if a FAA Form 8050-2 (Bill of Sale) has been completed.
Whether the paperwork is complete or not, my point was that it sounds like there is agreement between the former owner and the insurance company that the insurance company will take it and pay out the former owner for it's loss. Once that agreement is made, i'd say that changing the status of the hull would constitute a breach of the aforementioned agreement.
 
No... there is no DEAL made with any insurance company on my end, I am not the insured or the owner... just the manufacture. We are making good progress. Thanks to all that have great info and the right connections. !!
 
Whether the paperwork is complete or not, my point was that it sounds like there is agreement between the former owner and the insurance company that the insurance company will take it and pay out the former owner for it's loss. Once that agreement is made, i'd say that changing the status of the hull would constitute a breach of the aforementioned agreement.

True, but the implied part of a "deal" with the insurance company is that you are being paid because the plane is totaled. If so, telling the FAA that is not a breach in my book...
 
The underwriter (AIG) is going to total anything like this because of the liability. If they pay to have it fixed and the wing falls off due to corrosion then it's on them. If you buy it from a salvage place and 'rebuild' it yourself, all the liability is on you. These guys are masters at risk and that is the reason they total airplanes most would agree could be fixed with very little effort.
 
The underwriter (AIG) is going to total anything like this because of the liability. If they pay to have it fixed and the wing falls off due to corrosion then it's on them. If you buy it from a salvage place and 'rebuild' it yourself, all the liability is on you. These guys are masters at risk and that is the reason they total airplanes most would agree could be fixed with very little effort.

Sid... you speak as an expert for AIG. Please email me an tell me more. The adjuster and his helpers had a lot of other ideas. Thanks. :)
 
Never has been sold and is trash. It is full of fertilizer with silt I also have issue an AD/SB on this aircraft due to the total loss and damage it incurred.
 
Copy

AD/SB RV-7A Reiley Darrell V7A1467 ? N622DR 09/01/2015
Due to extreme flood damage and 4 foot of water with corrosive, unidentifiable contaminates and sludge found in this aircraft the Manufacturer (Darrell Reiley) do to immediate corrosion after inspected and has declared this aircraft un-airworthy. Any attempt to restore this aircraft will require ALL wing skins, aileron skins and flap skins to be removed for internal condition and spar inspection for corrosion every 25 hours of flight time for inspection.
2015.19.01.SB.AD.DR.MAN
 
The FAA has their AD and I do myself. There is NO regulation that states I can not put out an AD on my product. Research this and let me know if I'm wrong. It is a my AD>!
 
The FAA has their AD and I do myself. There is NO regulation that states I can not put out an AD on my product. Research this and let me know if I'm wrong. It is a my AD>!

You can create whatever term you want, but it has no legal standing or enforceability. "AD" is a term for a specific FAA document, not something you just make up. (There's no regulation that says I cannot declare myself King, but it doesn't mean I am, or that anybody has to bow to me.)

But I suspect that by adding the aircraft's N-number here to the forum (and thereby making it searchable online), you have made it easier for people to find out the full history of the airplane if they want to -- which is your intent, I believe. So, mission accomplished!
 
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Back in the air and flying great

Happy news the plane is back in the air and flying great
I’m sure as the builder you’d be happy to know this
 
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Happy news the plane is back in the air and flying great
I?m sure as the builder you?d be happy to know this

I have not been following this closely, but would love to hear what you did to restore this aircraft. Wish you nothing but good luck and hope you enjoy the plane.

(Also completely understand the concern the original builder has and hopefully you can as well.)
 
Not so good

Happy news the plane is back in the air and flying great
I?m sure as the builder you?d be happy to know this

IFR100, I'm pretty sure this would NOT make the original builder happy, as he has repeatedly stated that it should never be considered airworthy again.

I am curious what you did to it, so as to negate corrosion issues, doubly so because you are in Florida.
 
IFR100, I'm pretty sure this would NOT make the original builder happy, as he has repeatedly stated that it should never be considered airworthy again.

I am curious what you did to it, so as to negate corrosion issues, doubly so because you are in Florida.

I have a feeling that his post was a bit of a troll since it was posted here with very little info. With that said, sharing how you inspect, address, and replace any serious corrosion would be interesting to see. I'm holding all judgement till I see what was done. I think the original builder has done all he can to distance himself from from this salvaged airframe to limit his liability, and don't blame him.
 
Back in the air

No not a troll at all and to be honest with you somethings getting a little bit of water on it specially freshwater doesn’t really cause any more corrosion on it than normal Humidity like we have here in Florida 24 hours a day seven days a week that contacts the inside of every Non painted surface of every plane and it’s a nice plane doikg a few updates to it the gps was just old air maps 2000 junk and the paint over all great flying aircraft great performance and low fuel burn and great work from the bulder kind of strange it looks like he was halfway through scuffing it to have it painted maybe you can enlighten me on what was going on there Also I’d like to know what kind of fuel pickups he had installed on it any any buld logs woud be helpful
 
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Question

It appears the builder has indicated that they do not want anything to do with a structure that his been salvaged. Why are you asking him for builder logs and such?
 
So, the builder thinks the aircraft was permanently and irrecoverably ruined and cannot be made airworthy. The insurance company totaled it and re-sold to recover some of their loss, removing it from the ownership (and therefore control) of the builder. The new owner apparently disagrees with the builder's assessment and has it flying again.

I guess the lesson here is, if you want to make sure your airplane never flies again, you'll probably need to wreck it yourself. You may give up your insurance settlement in the process... just how strongly do you feel about it?
 
No not a troll at all and to be honest with you somethings getting a little bit of water on it specially freshwater doesn’t really cause any more corrosion on it than normal Humidity like we have here in Florida 24 hours a day seven days a week that contacts the inside of every Non painted surface of every plane and it’s a nice plane doikg a few updates to it the gps was just old air maps 2000 junk and the paint over all great flying aircraft great performance and low fuel burn and great work from the bulder kind of strange it looks like he was halfway through scuffing it to have it painted maybe you can enlighten me on what was going on there Also I’d like to know what kind of fuel pickups he had installed on it any any buld logs woud be helpful

Wow, what an unreadable mess of text; please, next time try some punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphs and whatnot.

I don’t mean to be snarky, but when I try to read a mess like that the actual message is lost and all I can see is the English language being massacred...
 
Corrosion

Between the improper punctuation and people
Not separating the skins and spars after a
heavy rain or splashing thru a muddy runway.
It?s just khaos!!!!!!!
 
Interesting point

I wonder if builder could have removed the data plate and kept it. The insurance company could still sell the structure and avionics but the traceability back to builder would be difficult without that data plate. Would that limit liability exposure?


So, the builder thinks the aircraft was permanently and irrecoverably ruined and cannot be made airworthy. The insurance company totaled it and re-sold to recover some of their loss, removing it from the ownership (and therefore control) of the builder. The new owner apparently disagrees with the builder's assessment and has it flying again.

I guess the lesson here is, if you want to make sure your airplane never flies again, you'll probably need to wreck it yourself. You may give up your insurance settlement in the process... just how strongly do you feel about it?
 
I wonder if builder could have removed the data plate and kept it. The insurance company could still sell the structure and avionics but the traceability back to builder would be difficult without that data plate. Would that limit liability exposure?

Would have to have been done prior to reaching a financial agreement (or as part of the agreement) with the insurance company. Once you accept their check, it belongs to the insurance company and the prior owner can't touch it.
 
Ding! We have a winner. No dataplate - no airworthiness. Has to be done by the owner. Doesn?t stop dishonest people from being dishonest, but it should do a good job of severing liability - especially if proper paperwork is filed with the FAA of the decommissioning.

Would have to have been done prior to reaching a financial agreement (or as part of the agreement) with the insurance company. Once you accept their check, it belongs to the insurance company and the prior owner can't touch it.
 
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