The "Ruby" saga...aka 'Hey, where's my plane?'

JCranford

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JCranford
My T210L, Ruby, is back from Mx...finally. Ive hesitated posting the ordeal because frankly, I don't need the sh$t I'm likely to get from some of you super-duper airplane owners who forgot your first plane.

Attitude aside, here's the, somewhat abbreviated, and entirely hypothetical, story...

Bought Ruby back in August in Virginia. Took an experienced 210 owner / CFI up there to pick her up. Brought her home, got the insurance required training out of the way, and away we went. Flew a few places and generally started getting to know her.

In October I flew to Gaston's. Leaving Denton, the gear wouldn't come up. I cycled it, no joy, so I landed and taxied to the shop. Nose wheel strut was all the way down. I don't think I missed that on preflight.

Away we go, uneventful flight and land at Gaston's. Some wisea@@ at Gaston's, probably BrYan, asked "Whats up with your prop?". I look and the tips are slightly bent. WTF!? All three blades and all are striated on the ends as if scraping concrete. No way did I scrape the prop on takeoff and NOT notice, but there it is.

Fly home, uneventful. Engine running great. Stop at Byam's Prop at Meacham for an opinion. He say "if youre not going to involve the engine, pull the prop and bring it over" and quoted me a pretty reasonable price. I tell my A&P to pull the prop and he whips out the SB regarding prop strikes. I panic and call the insurance company and it goes downhill from there.

The engine gets pulled and sent to Western Skyways for teardown and inspection. Early inspection shows case fretting. Later inspection shows major corrosion.

One MOH, a large check, and 5 months later the engine is back in the plane and I'm back in the air. Engine seems to be running better than before. Better climb rate, more power.

One interesting aside, Western Skyways sent back one part, a gear shaft out of the fuel pump. Most of the teeth on the front half of the gear are stripped. Mighta lost my fuel pump at some inconvenient point.

If you're still reading...fire away!
 
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dang, props to you for telling the story. I'd be bent too!

eh? eh? props.......bent........sigh

jk, glad it's all worked out, now go fly!
 
thanks for posting. not fun to read being a owner myself.. glad u are back in the air
 
First year costs are all about getting things fixed. Yours were just a bit higher than usual. However you have a great base to start working from, hopefully next year will be easier.
 
Seems like I heard a very similar story somewhere recently...don't remember exactly where...musta been the beer fog...
 
With the nose strut completely flat will the prop hit the ground? I have my doubts but that could explain the damage. Another thought is a nose gear that was not fully extended after your gear retraction problems.

Other than that, there's not much to say. You did the right thing with the inspection, especially since it caused a problem to be discovered.
 
Is it repetitive if I say this is reason #2976 to buy a taildragger? :p

Anyway good thing you found all those issues and it's running strong. Nothing better than knowing you can trust the engine.
 
All I will add is don't feel bad, could have turned out the same way with any other 210 you would have bought and it's still cheaper than a new airplane!
 
Ha, if you want an apocryphal story to beat yours, I flew my perfectly working aircraft to an airport with an avionics shop for an upgrade. I'm replacing a KLX135a with a KLN94 and an Icon radio, and replacing the Mode C transponder with an ADSB unit. I delivered it just before Thanksgiving, and I got the E-mail that it is finally done today.
 
With the nose strut completely flat will the prop hit the ground? I have my doubts but that could explain the damage. Another thought is a nose gear that was not fully extended after your gear retraction problems.

Other than that, there's not much to say. You did the right thing with the inspection, especially since it caused a problem to be discovered.

According to my ruler, you can let the air our of the strut AND the nose tire and still clear.
 
The big check was b/c the insurance wouldn’t cover the corroded parts? What else?
Seems like they would be cutting the bigger check.
 
The big check was b/c the insurance wouldn’t cover the corroded parts? What else?
Seems like they would be cutting the bigger check.

Insurance paid for items related to the prop scrape (I fall short of saying 'prop strike', cuz it really was more of a scrape...) ie. engine removal, teardown, inspection, re-install, prop overhaul. None of the parts related to the MOH. I wasn't unhappy with the amount insurance covered for sure, just the whole ordeal.
 
According to my ruler, you can let the air our of the strut AND the nose tire and still clear.

That's what I figured. I haven't seen an airplane yet that won't have prop clearance with a flat strut. The mystery continues, I wouldn't give up researching it until you determine how it happened, just so you don't have it happen again anytime soon. (I'm making the assumption that there is some sort of mechanical deficiency here, not implying pilot technique.)
 
According to my ruler, you can let the air our of the strut AND the nose tire and still clear.

I am still looking for my generic 210 POH, but I am sure I read somewhere that the prop won't hit the ground with a flat tire and a flat strut while sitting still.
 
We are all teetering precipitously on the edge of going through what you just did, with these older planes we fly.
 
With the nose strut completely flat will the prop hit the ground? I have my doubts but that could explain the damage. Another thought is a nose gear that was not fully extended after your gear retraction problems.

Yea, that's the only other possibility, but I heard the stall horn on landing so I know the nose was up, and the CFI I flew with drilled into my head to taxi with the yoke fully back, so I always do.
 
I think the moral of the story is if this happens to you, taxi into the closest taxi light and hopes that insurance will cover more
I think the procedures reported here on POA are to either land gear up or to leave the power tow attached when starting the engine. As always, YMWV.
 
Surprised bYrian didnt make a video about your bent prop..
 
A guy I know just bought a near runout Bo (priced right) hoping to get a couple hundred more hours before a reman. It made metal on the flight home!

We’re all one flight away from that monetary punch in the gut. Sorry it came so soon for you.
 
Maybe uneven concrete on your home ramp, with a low strut and caught a bounce just right?
 
John, unfortunately this is the sort of risk that happens with any plane when you buy it. As I think you know, the 414 had a lot of significant and expensive issues during my tenure as its caretaker. I'm hopeful the MU-2 doesn't do as bad. I feel your pain, and glad that you have your airplane back.
 
John, unfortunately this is the sort of risk that happens with any plane when you buy it. As I think you know, the 414 had a lot of significant and expensive issues during my tenure as its caretaker. I'm hopeful the MU-2 doesn't do as bad. I feel your pain, and glad that you have your airplane back.
Bill? stop posting from Ted's account.
 
Sorry for the prop strike but I would look at it this as a good thing. Because of it, you discovered some engine problems and now you have a safer plane to take the family flying in.
 
My T210L, Ruby, is back from Mx...finally. Ive hesitated posting the ordeal because frankly, I don't need the sh$t I'm likely to get from some of you super-duper airplane owners who forgot your first plane.

Attitude aside, here's the, somewhat abbreviated, story...

Bought Ruby back in August in Virginia. Took an experienced 210 owner / CFI up there to pick her up. Brought her home, got the insurance required training out of the way, and away we went. Flew a few places and generally started getting to know her.

In October I flew to Gaston's. Leaving Denton, the gear wouldn't come up. I cycled it, no joy, so I landed and taxied to the shop. Nose wheel strut was all the way down. I don't think I missed that on preflight.

Away we go, uneventful flight and land at Gaston's. Some wisea@@ at Gaston's, probably BrYan, asked "Whats up with your prop?". I look and the tips are slightly bent. WTF!? All three blades and all are striated on the ends as if scraping concrete. No way did I scrape the prop on takeoff and NOT notice, but there it is.

Fly home, uneventful. Engine running great. Stop at Byam's Prop at Meacham for an opinion. He say "if youre not going to involve the engine, pull the prop and bring it over" and quoted me a pretty reasonable price. I tell my A&P to pull the prop and he whips out the SB regarding prop strikes. I panic and call the insurance company and it goes downhill from there.

The engine gets pulled and sent to Western Skyways for teardown and inspection. Early inspection shows case fretting. Later inspection shows major corrosion.

One MOH, a large check, and 5 months later the engine is back in the plane and I'm back in the air. Engine seems to be running better than before. Better climb rate, more power.

One interesting aside, Western Skyways sent back one part, a gear shaft out of the fuel pump. Most of the teeth on the front half of the gear are stripped. Mighta lost my fuel pump at some inconvenient point.

If you're still reading...fire away!


Man, I hate that you had that happen.

I have to confess, I believe Greg and I were the wise-acres that brought it to your attention. We didn't want to break the news, but friends don't let friends fly with bent props, or something like that. Sucks. I made sure to get my free ride in before I said anything though. :D
 
Yeah that sucks, but, Ruby is even more of a gem now....Fly the pants off of her!

(oops, sorry Mrs.J)
 
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