Crider Aircraft Painting - Severe Ice damage

StraightnLevel

StraightnLevel

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StraightnLevel
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Word is out that the Crider Aircraft Painting in Mena, Arkansas suffered a building collapse.

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Let's hope that nobody was hurt, and that everyone has insurance that will cover the losses.....but it's gonna leave a mark. I'm guessing that any planes under that are not going to be airworthy.....

I had gotten a re-paint quote for my J35 from Crider just a few weeks ago, and was planning to schedule the work here in the next week or so. Looks like I need to adjust my plans.
 
KE5BM said:
There is some very old looking metal there.
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What are you seeing that I'm not? To me, it just looks like a metal building with some surfaces painted white and some in primer red. Not uncommon...
 
I see rusted welds and joints. In the second picture, especially there are breaks in the beams that look like they had been quite brittle prior to the collapse in that there's a jagged break as opposed to one indicative of a break resulting from stress on the beam. I don't see much primer or white that doesn't look like overspray from the use of the building.

I'm not trying to lay blame, just making an observation. There was not enough snow and ice to cause the collapse of the building alone. Otherwise, every hangar, Walmart, Lowes, and warehouse in the area would be on the ground as well.
 
KE5BM said:
I see rusted welds and joints. In the second picture, especially there are breaks in the beams that look like they had been quite brittle prior to the collapse in that there's a jagged break as opposed to one indicative of a break resulting from stress on the beam. I don't see much primer or white that doesn't look like overspray from the use of the building.

I'm not trying to lay blame, just making an observation. There was not enough snow and ice to cause the collapse of the building alone. Otherwise, every hangar, Walmart, Lowes, and warehouse in the area would be on the ground as well.
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I'm in the steel fab industry. I'm not seeing what you're seeing.

This is based on a hunch and my personal experience of having done repair work on metal buildings I suspect this building has been modified or added on at some point in its life. I suspect structural members had been removed for one reason or another and the proper engineering not been done.

I was in a former warehouse turned office space. When they turned it into an office they added a second floor. When they added the second floor they removed the x bracing in between columns. Which they were able to do because the second floor would provide that structure. Once they demo'd that floor they need that x bracing again.

So I doubt this has anything to do with ice or snow load or poor welds and more to do with poor engineering and the right gust of wind.
 
flyingron said:
Dunno. We had a similar collapse at IAD at Dulles Jet Center a while back.
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"A record of 32" of snow" would do it. A little ice.... There's more to the story
 
Hard to see this. Hopefully they find a way to get up and running again. I've seen a lot of amazing paint jobs come out of this place, including one of my favorite local planes.
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I have plans to fly up to Mena in a month or so, weather dependent, to look at paint shops and get quotes. Crider was on that list. A friend had a B55 painted there this past year and the job was pretty nice and reasonable on price. Unfortunately, they are off the list :(. It will be hard to justify rebuilding unless the insurance payout is substantial.
 
I can attest to the trauma of having one’s airplane damaged/destroyed in a hangar, um, “event.” Fortunately in my case that trauma was mitigated somewhat by the fact that I, along with the mechanics, were hiding under the plow truck in the back of the hangar at the time.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
My old airplane is in there for a repaint.

The one in the background here, in primer.

I’ve been chatting with the president of the club who owns it now. No idea on the extent of the damage yet.
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Sigh. That was the last plane I bought for the club when I was President, completing the overhaul of the fleet.

IMG_9892.png

13B was a REALLY nice bird. I first saw it when @fiveoboy01 bought it, and it immediately became my benchmark for what we wanted for the club's third airplane. It had nice paint, an OK interior, and a decent panel.

A few years later, after the rest of the fleet had been replaced, and I'd just sold 83F, I got a call from @fiveoboy01 asking if we were looking for an Archer, because he was selling. I immediately knew that'd be the bird we bought. We went through all the motions with a pre-buy, of course, but @fiveoboy01 had gotten the engine overhauled and he takes better care of his stuff than anyone I know.

Since then, 13B had gotten a completely new panel. And I mean new - The panel itself, G3X Touch, GTN 650 with Smart Glide, GFC 500, and all the other Garmin toys.

I honestly don't even know why they were painting it. IMO the paint job it already had was really nice. And I'm really sad that such a nice bird is probably disappearing from the GA fleet. :(
 
I talked to the guy in charge of CC and he said they pulled a 150 out and there was minimal damage to it. So fingers crossed!

I don’t how the paint has held up. When I met Cory in maybe 2021, he took me out to look at it, and the paint was staring to get slightly beat up. 5 more years and maybe it needed it.

I did try to take care of it. It’s a lot harder to keep things nice in a club environment.

Most days I wish I’d kept it. But it was just so expensive. A full overhaul less than 100 hours into my ownership hurt quite a bit….

I’ve still got lots of pics of it.

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Bill said:
That will leave a mark!
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When looking for that picture online, the commentary I found was that the 75mm was not terribly effective because of its low cycle rate, you were only able to get about 4 rounds on target in a single pass. I'm guessing that is why later "Spooky" gunships mounted the cannons out the side, so the aircraft could just orbit and continue to fire on target until the target was no more.

Which has nothing to do with Crider's hangar or ice storms...
 
fiveoboy01 said:
I talked to the guy in charge of CC and he said they pulled a 150 out and there was minimal damage to it. So fingers crossed!
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Hoping for a miracle. I know Archers may seem like a dime a dozen right now, but I can't say I've ever seen a nicer one. Seems like all the newer G1000 ones were sold to big university flight programs and got the ever-loving crap beat out of them.

fiveoboy01 said:
I don’t how the paint has held up. When I met Cory in maybe 2021, he took me out to look at it, and the paint was staring to get slightly beat up. 5 more years and maybe it needed it.
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I suppose. It has been almost 9 years since the photo I posted above!
 
midwestpa24 said:
When looking for that picture online, the commentary I found was that the 75mm was not terribly effective because of its low cycle rate, you were only able to get about 4 rounds on target in a single pass. I'm guessing that is why later "Spooky" gunships mounted the cannons out the side, so the aircraft could just orbit and continue to fire on target until the target was no more.
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As my Friends from Louisiana would say "That's a true fact"
 
midwestpa24 said:
When looking for that picture online, the commentary I found was that the 75mm was not terribly effective because of its low cycle rate, you were only able to get about 4 rounds on target in a single pass. I'm guessing that is why later "Spooky" gunships mounted the cannons out the side, so the aircraft could just orbit and continue to fire on target until the target was no more.

Which has nothing to do with Crider's hangar or ice storms...
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The other difference is the Spookys and their follow-on's fly at night and use IR and other technologies to spot targets and aim weapons. At night, they are much harder to hit by optically guided AAA. The B-25 in the gunship role was basically consigned to daylight attacks. Probably not very survivable if they did anything much more than one pass, haul ice...
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Hoping for a miracle. I know Archers may seem like a dime a dozen right now, but I can't say I've ever seen a nicer one. Seems like all the newer G1000 ones were sold to big university flight programs and got the ever-loving crap beat out of them.


I suppose. It has been almost 9 years since the photo I posted above!
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The paint was getting beaten up. There was a lot of chipping and it was getting to be time to paint her. I'm pretty sure there were more flight hours on 13B than the DA40 and 182. I was VP back then and remember taking the test flight. 13B was a huge upgrade to 83F and a great purchase.
 
kyleb said:
The other difference is the Spookys and their follow-on's fly at night and use IR and other technologies to spot targets and aim weapons. At night, they are much harder to hit by optically guided AAA. The B-25 in the gunship role was basically consigned to daylight attacks. Probably not very survivable if they did anything much more than one pass, haul ice...
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Those birds are responsible for some of the best aggressor videos of the Vietnam war.

"I'm guessing that is why later "Spooky" gunships mounted the cannons out the side, so the aircraft could just orbit and continue to fire on target until the target was no more."

This says it all.
 
Flying Spartan said:
The paint was getting beaten up. There was a lot of chipping and it was getting to be time to paint her. I'm pretty sure there were more flight hours on 13B than the DA40 and 182. I was VP back then and remember taking the test flight. 13B was a huge upgrade to 83F and a great purchase.
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Hey, welcome to PoA!
 
MauleSkinner said:
I can attest to the trauma of having one’s airplane damaged/destroyed in a hangar, um, “event.” Fortunately in my case that trauma was mitigated somewhat by the fact that I, along with the mechanics, were hiding under the plow truck in the back of the hangar at the time.
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I just checked the dictionary. I don’t think that’s what “mitigated” means. :yikes:
 
Lowflynjack said:
Hard to see this. Hopefully they find a way to get up and running again. I've seen a lot of amazing paint jobs come out of this place, including one of my favorite local planes.
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Is Devil Dog still parked in the Pilot's Choice hangar? Brings back memories - I did my multi-comm there in 2000.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Pretty sure it is…
mitigated

adjective​

  1. Made less severe or intense.
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That’s what I mean. Being personally in the structure while the plane-crushing event is going on would make my trauma a lot more intense. You’re a braver man than I.
 
iamtheari said:
That’s what I mean. Being personally in the structure while the plane-crushing event is going on would make my trauma a lot more intense. You’re a braver man than I.
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The trauma of having my airplane wrecked would have been, “my most prized possession just got wrecked,” but instead was, “it’s just a thing.” I’d say that was “made less severe or intense.”
 
Somewhat off topic here, but that same ice storm went across OK and N TX and dumped a lot of ice which did millions in damage along the route. I have a boat at Lake Texoma on the border, and my covered boat house tipped down and partially sank. Some of it was supported by the superstructure of my boat, and I had some light antenna damage.

Hope those affected by this ice damage are covered with insurance, and can get their plane back in the air.
 
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