Abandoned Airplanes (ramblings)

Bryan Wood · #1 04-09-2006, 09:19 PM

While leaving the airport today my eye drifted to an airplane sitting outside in the rain and I started to wonder about some of these airplanes that we all see just sitting and rotting. This particular one is a Stearman that is backed in between T hangers with blue tarps laying on the ground around it. I've heard that the county moved it out of its hanger about a year back for some reason that is unknown to me and left it for the stray cats to live in. Seriously, when driving down the ramp strays scurry towards and disappear into the old airplane. There is something that seems wrong with an airplane like this just sitting there rotting away. As I drove on towards the gate I passed a Grumman Yankee with flat tires and the canopy cover ripped and hanging limp towards the ground. There is also a Cessna and a Cherokee on this row of tie downs in similar conditions. Right near the gate there is an Archer that had its canopy cover spun by the wind exposing the side windows on the pilots side sometime around last Christmas. Every time I drive past this particular plane the urge hits me to stop and fix the cover, but with the wackos in the world today I don't dare. This isn't an old Archer either, it has the round air inlets into the cowl. There is just something about seeing all of these airplanes basically forgotten and unloved that makes me a little sad. Surely there are those of you like me that had a burning need deep in the pit of your soul that could only be filled with an airplane. The problem for me was that this need manifested about 2 1/2 decades before life circumstances allowed it to happen. I remember seeing a Navion sit for almost 20 years on flat tires and wondering if it would ever fly again. I often dreamed of finding the owner and making some offer and returning it to its glory, but knowing that it had sat to long to be any good to anybody. I guess the owners must have their reasons for keeping and letting these airplanes deteriorate over time, but none of them seem good when driving by and seeing their rotting hulks.

jdmunzell · #2 04-09-2006, 10:10 PM

Just curious...what airport are you talking about with a deserted Stearman?

Jeff
-8 wings

Bryan Wood · #3 04-09-2006, 11:33 PM

Reid Hillview in San Jose, CA. There was also one at San Jose INTL under a shelter rotting for 10 or 15 years. I don't know if it is still there or not. The same owner had a P51D that sat for 10 years or so and finally went away. I had heard that the last time he started the Mustang it caught on fire which he put out and never tried to start it again. ??? It just sat in puddles of hydraulic fluid and drew attention from everybody passing by.

osxuser · #4 04-10-2006, 12:17 AM

My dad bought our Cardinal from a guy that had let it sit for 11 years. He would religously start it every 6 months, then change the oil and MMO the cylinders. We paid very little for it initially, but have almost market value into it now that we have owned it for 4 years, pretty sad that most of these airplanes that sit like this aren't worth fixing unless you can get them for a real steal AND do most of the work yourself.

TerryPancake · #5 04-10-2006, 06:20 AM

I saw that P-51 at SJC sitting for years. I heard the plane was caught up in a divorce battle. It was the husbands baby and the wife wanted it out of spite. Probably just a mean rumor.

grover · #6 04-10-2006, 06:33 AM

I remember having these same feelings. years ago, there was a farm that had a Seabee sitting outside. we stopped in once and inquired about it. the folks were very nice, but no it wasn't for sale. they were going to fix it up "some day." that farm is on the way to the veteran's cemetery. so we drive by once in a while. the plane is long gone.

Mr. Mikey · #7 04-10-2006, 07:04 AM

I used to work at our local airport here in Panama City. For years there was an old Twin Bonanza parked out behind the hangars that I passed by dozens of times a day.

I walked up to it one day for a close look. As I walked around to the empenage I touched the elevator and the trailing edge crumbled into dust where my fingers touched. The aluminum was so corroded it was thinner than eggshell.

What a shame.

jbDC9 · #8 04-10-2006, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Mikey

For years there was an old Twin Bonanza parked out behind the hangars...

I can almost understand a T-Bone being abandoned... big, complex airplane with big, expensive geared engines to overhaul when timed out. But you see so many abandoned 150s, 172s, Cherokees... seems like every airport around here (Houston) has an abandoned Cherokee or three laying around. There's an old Cherokee 140 at Weiser, fuel tanks missing, parts robbed, wing spars corroded and shot... owner can't be found and hasn't paid any tiedown fees in years. It'll never fly again. Sad.

I wonder why some owners hang on to these old dogs for so long when they never fly them, don't maintain them, needs some work, but "we'll get to it someday". Is it for bragging rights at a party to tell women "I own an airplane", never mind the fact it hasn't turned a wheel in years and has weeds growing up over the wings?

What really chaps me are the guys that do this to their airplanes, but waste hangar space to do it. T hangars are almost impossible to get, yet some guys have an old Tri-Pacer in there, maybe a boat and an old Corvette under the wings, surrounded by all sorts of junk, an inch of dust and dirt on top of it all, and the hangar hasn't been opened in years. Dude, sell the plane, put the other junk in an off-airport storage unit and let someone else have the hangar who might actually use it! Sorry, had to rant a little...

I just don't get it.

osxuser · #9 04-10-2006, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbDC9

...

What really chaps me are the guys that do this to their airplanes, but waste hangar space to do it. T hangars are almost impossible to get, yet some guys have an old Tri-Pacer in there, maybe a boat and an old Corvette under the wings, surrounded by all sorts of junk, an inch of dust and dirt on top of it all, and the hangar hasn't been opened in years. Dude, sell the plane, put the other junk in an off-airport storage unit and let someone else have the hangar who might actually use it! Sorry, had to rant a little...

I just don't get it.

Hear hear! Unfortunitly, it's cheaper to pay for hanger rent than the equivalent off-airport storage. And since most airports require and aircraft to be in the hanger, it would seen that most of these people keep the aircraft for that reason. I was looking at a Grumman AA-1 that had been a hanger queen for quite a period of time. Unfortunitly, the owner still thought it was worth 20K not the 15K I would have paid for it. So now, I'm building an RV instead.. .. ..

Ironflight · #10 04-10-2006, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osxuser

Unfortunitly, the owner still thought it was worth 20K not the 15K I would have paid for it. .

I think Steve hit the nail on the head. A lot of folks just can't admit that since the plane has been sitting, if they were to sell it, they couldn't get their money out of it, since it will need an overhaul, new this and that, and any buyer would take that stuff off the purchase price. They are unwilling to take the loss, and end up losing ALL the value when the airplane becomes unrepairable. It is a death spiral for the airplane, and we probably lose a lot more airframes to this kind of neglect than to accidents. A lot of them start the spiral when operating and maintenance costs reach the point where the owner can't afford to fly it regularly...and then it's all downhill from there.

And if you think AIRPLANES are bad, you should see the thousands of people who buy boats and then let them rot in their slips, or in storage here in the Galveston Bay area....