Flooding in Texas - Taylor T74

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

Final Approach
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Jack Fleetwood
We took a pretty good hit on Memorial Day. From the witness accounts, the water came up so rapidly they couldn't react. One man had to be rescued from his hangar. There will be quite a few planes totaled. We spent a lot of time pressure washing mud from hangars, going through belongings, throwing out trash, etc. I didn't get a lot of photos as I was in shock and then went to work cleaning my hangar and helping others. Here are some from other people though.

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Dang that looks like a lot of work.

What's the procedure for an aircraft that's had water up to the jugs? What has to be done to be airworthy?
 
Dang, that water line was high! Hope all these planes can mx back to health soon.
 
Oh man that's horrible. I really don't know what to say. Best of wishes on a fast recovery and I really hope the insurance folks hold up their end of the bargain.
 
It breaks your heart to see the experimentals like that. My assumption is that the owners built them with thousands of hours and years of their lives only to have them trashed and now need building again. With the certified planes, you just eventually go shopping for another, but the kit planes are a whole other story. :(:cryin:
 
Dav8or said:
It breaks your heart to see the experimentals like that. My assumption is that the owners built them with thousands of hours and years of their lives only to have them trashed and now need building again. With the certified planes, you just eventually go shopping for another, but the kit planes are a whole other story. :(:cryin:
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Agreed.....:sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:
 
Looks horrible for flooding ... and seeing the snake on the grill caught my attention. I hate snakes....
 
Snakes and Fire Ants...both are looking to go somewhere...more rain for the weekend in Texas
 
I think that photo is a retread not related to recent rains... if you google the image, I'm seeing it used in blog entries as far back as November 2013 https://goo.gl/vr1U9f
 
Most of the planes that were in the hangars closest to the road/drainage ditch will be totaled. In fact, some have already received confirmation they will get a check. Some will be rebuilt. They're putting dehumidifiers in the planes and will pull the interiors, some of the instruments, etc.

I agree with what others said, we can replace the factory-built planes. My friend with the pretty RV-7 spent 11 years building it... it kills me to see it that way.

Doc - my plane is fine. I had two feet of water and I had the elevators up, so really it only got to my wheels and tailwheel. I had already ordered new springs and hardware to rebuild the tailwheel anyway. The worst part for me was I had to turn the water hose on the plane, which I've never done before. That's the last thing you want to do to a polished plane. I'll spend hours polishing this weekend.

I can tell you we all understand people have lost their lives, homes, cars, etc. I can't imagine being the guy who survived only to find he lost his wife and kids. We all know we're lucky in the grand scheme.
 
AggieMike88 said:
I think that photo is a retread not related to recent rains... if you google the image, I'm seeing it used in blog entries as far back as November 2013 https://goo.gl/vr1U9f
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I had my doubts about it, which is why I used the word "supposedly", lol. Either way, I'd be sending that boat to the bottom of the lake.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Most of the planes that were in the hangars closest to the road/drainage ditch will be totaled. In fact, some have already received confirmation they will get a check. Some will be rebuilt. They're putting dehumidifiers in the planes and will pull the interiors, some of the instruments, etc.

I agree with what others said, we can replace the factory-built planes. My friend with the pretty RV-7 spent 11 years building it... it kills me to see it that way.

Doc - my plane is fine. I had two feet of water and I had the elevators up, so really it only got to my wheels and tailwheel. I had already ordered new springs and hardware to rebuild the tailwheel anyway. The worst part for me was I had to turn the water hose on the plane, which I've never done before. That's the last thing you want to do to a polished plane. I'll spend hours polishing this weekend.

I can tell you we all understand people have lost their lives, homes, cars, etc. I can't imagine being the guy who survived only to find he lost his wife and kids. We all know we're lucky in the grand scheme.
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Thanks for pointing this out Jack. We all love our planes and the thought of losing them is awful, but keeping this in perspective, the thought of losing my lovely wife of 41 years is a horrible nightmare.

My heart goes out to those who have lost their loved ones.

I'm glad your plane is safe and sound only requiring minimal work. Maybe some day things will come together such that we can see each others planes.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I had my doubts about it, which is why I used the word "supposedly", lol. Either way, I'd be sending that boat to the bottom of the lake.
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Sending the boat to the bottom wouldn't solve the snake problem. Your first suggestion of burning the dock was better. That might have actually killed the snakes. Water moccasins are NASTY! You can smell them from 20 feet away.
 
danhagan said:
Looks horrible for flooding ... and seeing the snake on the grill caught my attention. I hate snakes....
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They beat the hell out of rats.

Sorry to hear about all the devastation, but hopefully everyone is insured and can go shopping for something else. Important thing is no one got hurt. Aircraft are replaceable, people not so much.
 
Most snakes are preferable to rats, but water moccasins are a different kettle of fish.
 
So sorry to see this.

My hangar has flooded four times this spring, thanks to the unprecedented rains we've received in Texas -- but it's been the kind of flooding you suck up with a wet-vac. Not at all on the scale of this.

Good luck.
 
That's heartbreaking. Was the snake on the grill alive?? I, too, have no affinity for those critters!
 
I'm kind of like Indiana Jones in one respect: I hate snakes. HATE.

When I lived in Charlotte we had Copperheads in the woods behind out house, and once when I cut open a bail of pine straw, a Coral Snake was coiled up inside.

Those were reasons 478 and 479, respectively, why I wanted to get the hell out of the south and move back north.
 
Yes, the snake was alive. He didn't last long!

I originally just washed out my hangar and rinsed the plane (cringe) with the water hose. By Friday evening I noticed a musty smell in the hangar, so Saturday morning and afternoon I removed everything from the hangar and pressure washed. Saturday evening and Sunday morning were spent polishing the plane... which is not a horrible process for me except I had just done a couple of months ago! I polished all of the metal, now I need to clean the wings, clean and repack the wheel bearings, and change the tailwheel springs (I already had these on order as mine sag). Should be back to normal by this week! I need to fly!

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I just noticed my strut and wing look messed up in the photo! Guess this is what happens when I'm too tired to grab my camera and use the iPhone with a pano shot!
 
She's lookin' good Jack! I bet you're a bit on the tired side.

As far as flying goes, you're no better off than me. I went a few weeks with almost no gaps in the weather. The weather is now breaking, but the bridge across the Red River is closed, so I can't get to my hangar in Hugo.

If the bridge is still closed this afternoon, I might try to find someone to fly me over there, but that would mean tying her down outside for a few days. There is no threat of rain for a few days, but I just can't stand the thought of her outside shivering in the cold.

They are talking about the bridge opening possibly on Wednesday.
 
Mother Nature sure has it in for Texas this year. Hope the aircraft can be made whole again.
 
Most of them are being totaled. I know if one so far the insurance company gave them the option to repair, but I think they're leaning toward totaling it. I know I would if I had the option.
 
It is a sad sight for sure. What is even sadder is that I recognize the airport and the airplanes. Taylor got hit suddenly, it sure was unexpected.
Hope most of you guys can just clean up the airplanes, repack wheel bearings and move on. GA is getting slower in general, we don't need natural disasters "helping". :(
 
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