Apologies if this is the wrong section to be posting in, please move or let me know where to put it if so.
I bought a flying RV-4 at the start of February and have since then been working on it tidying up a few things, replacing hoses, lines, new seats, shorter/closer rudder pedals etc.
I had just finished it this past week and started to put cowling and everything back together to taxi test and fly it this last Saturday. On Saturday I went up to put the cowling on to taxi around and sadly I found the plane coated with a class ABC monoammonium phosphate fire extinguisher (the powdery kind). Someone broke into the gated/locked, police patrolled airport and then the locked shared T hangars and rummaged through everyone's stuff and for some reason picked my plane to pull the pin on an old fire extinguisher nobody realized was even there and proceeded to walk around my plane and spray the entire thing. It appears they didn't get any in the intake nor on the engine. The interior appears clean as canopy was closed and locked. The entire interior is primed and the plane is fully painted with thick automotive paint. Other planes had wiring messed with, things tossed around, and trickle chargers unplugged from inside the airplanes. All doors were closed back up and keys put back in place that were used, very very weird. I don't really know anyone at this airport and have only been based there < 2 months. The police believe they know who did it and that it wasn't targeted, but that's all I really am allowed to say due to the ongoing investigation.
I spent 6 hours with shopvacs and fine paint brushes with 2 other friends immediately sucking everything that we could off and out of the plane and each crack or seam. I took wing root fairings and tail fairing off to try to get any that may have fallen around. We then took a small mixture of baking soda and wet rags to wipe down the plane. We didn't want to just soak the plane in water and the manufacturer of the fire extinguisher said 3/4 cup or so of baking soda and 5 gallons would be the mixture to use. A few A&Ps agreed to try that but none had really heard of this happening and it was a weekend evening, so not many folks were answering anyways. I just wanted it off ASAP. After we wiped it down the next day I went back and continued to try to blow out any hinges or hard to get areas with compressed air in a direction that would blow it out and not further in. We then hand washed with damp rags essentially every rivet and screw.
I am waiting on what insurance is going to say, they've been making a lot of calls but they so far sound like they are going to file a claim. My greater question is does anyone think there's a chance that the plane was saved by our quick actions? Did we make it worse? Is it even worth monitoring and hoping it is fine? I know the powder was on the plane for less than 12 hours as I've been at the hangar every day this week finishing the plane up.
I already called Vans Aircraft, the fire extinguisher company to ensure baking soda was the neutralizer for that type of extinguisher, a few A&Ps, insurance, police etc.
I can add some pictures later when time allows.
I will be adding an offline camera solution to the hangar and also an online one that allows alerts to be sent to me going forward so I am able to immediately view if anyone is entering the hangar that shouldn't be. I just didn't think given the airport security was so high that I would need to do that...
Thanks for reading. I really did not expect this to be my first post on Vansairforce as a first time plane owner and newly acquired RV
I bought a flying RV-4 at the start of February and have since then been working on it tidying up a few things, replacing hoses, lines, new seats, shorter/closer rudder pedals etc.
I had just finished it this past week and started to put cowling and everything back together to taxi test and fly it this last Saturday. On Saturday I went up to put the cowling on to taxi around and sadly I found the plane coated with a class ABC monoammonium phosphate fire extinguisher (the powdery kind). Someone broke into the gated/locked, police patrolled airport and then the locked shared T hangars and rummaged through everyone's stuff and for some reason picked my plane to pull the pin on an old fire extinguisher nobody realized was even there and proceeded to walk around my plane and spray the entire thing. It appears they didn't get any in the intake nor on the engine. The interior appears clean as canopy was closed and locked. The entire interior is primed and the plane is fully painted with thick automotive paint. Other planes had wiring messed with, things tossed around, and trickle chargers unplugged from inside the airplanes. All doors were closed back up and keys put back in place that were used, very very weird. I don't really know anyone at this airport and have only been based there < 2 months. The police believe they know who did it and that it wasn't targeted, but that's all I really am allowed to say due to the ongoing investigation.
I spent 6 hours with shopvacs and fine paint brushes with 2 other friends immediately sucking everything that we could off and out of the plane and each crack or seam. I took wing root fairings and tail fairing off to try to get any that may have fallen around. We then took a small mixture of baking soda and wet rags to wipe down the plane. We didn't want to just soak the plane in water and the manufacturer of the fire extinguisher said 3/4 cup or so of baking soda and 5 gallons would be the mixture to use. A few A&Ps agreed to try that but none had really heard of this happening and it was a weekend evening, so not many folks were answering anyways. I just wanted it off ASAP. After we wiped it down the next day I went back and continued to try to blow out any hinges or hard to get areas with compressed air in a direction that would blow it out and not further in. We then hand washed with damp rags essentially every rivet and screw.
I am waiting on what insurance is going to say, they've been making a lot of calls but they so far sound like they are going to file a claim. My greater question is does anyone think there's a chance that the plane was saved by our quick actions? Did we make it worse? Is it even worth monitoring and hoping it is fine? I know the powder was on the plane for less than 12 hours as I've been at the hangar every day this week finishing the plane up.
I already called Vans Aircraft, the fire extinguisher company to ensure baking soda was the neutralizer for that type of extinguisher, a few A&Ps, insurance, police etc.
I can add some pictures later when time allows.
I will be adding an offline camera solution to the hangar and also an online one that allows alerts to be sent to me going forward so I am able to immediately view if anyone is entering the hangar that shouldn't be. I just didn't think given the airport security was so high that I would need to do that...
Thanks for reading. I really did not expect this to be my first post on Vansairforce as a first time plane owner and newly acquired RV