Heartbreaking!! Sorry for your pain.
A truely beautiful bird.
HC

Yes George

What a shame. Hope you can find other to replace her when you are ready. There is one in Delta Colo, that is supposed to be very nice. If you are interested, drop me a line, and I can put you in touch with the owner.

Sorry Gary

Aw, jeezz...

Hope nobody was hurt.

--Tony

Hope everything works out for you and you get back in the air soon!

I cried when I saw your pictures, but I bet not nearly as much as you did. What happened? No-one hurt, I hope.

ASW.

Thanks Everyone,.
Still working with the Insurance people. NTSB and the FAA were very kind to work with, all done over the phone.
After I sent the pictures yesterday to the adjuster he said he probably didn't need to come take a look. I just need to finish with all the paperwork associated with this.
I rented a hangar at 63S to keep the 195 in so I didn't have to plow my runway this winter.
paved runway and all.
Sunday about 1100 I pushed it out and tried to start.
Pulled all the cyls. thru
Primed it and twisted its tail, it didn't lite so primed some more, it coughed once and still didn't start, so primed it again and started to spin it again
About then I notice smoke coming out of the cowl so pulled the mixture and opened the throttle and kept cranking hoping to suck it in to the intake??
It appeared that that might work then I had to quit that!! Jumped out and looked, Duh!! sure enough it was on fire," I had a little halon bottle that I picked up after the discussion on fire bottles here" 1 squirt in the cowl and another on the ground and when I went back to give the cowl another squirt it was empty!!!Man what a sick feeling
Ran into the hangar to see if I had one in the picup? Ran across the taxi way to an open hangar to see if the Comanchee had a bottle but the damn door was locked, Ran to my car and grabbed my cell to call 911 but as I had come from home where the cell doesn't work so it was off!!! turned it on as I drove to the pilots lounge to use that one, about the time I got there the cell started to work. Made my call, lots of black smoke now, so I drove back over and just watched it slowly settle into the pavement. Never did blow up just burnt bright orange with a lot of really black smoke.
Kind of let the left wing bend down then it settled in the center the right wing settled down then the engine let loose and fell forward on to the spinner and then the fire trucks showed up!
Walked around for awhile after I made the mandatory phone calls, big crowd of folks, I walked the other way!!Was hard to find any rocks to kick as they are mostly covered up with a little snow and they are frozen in the ground pretty hard, they don't give a bit when you kickem this time of year, and my dog was at home so he was safe!
Thanks again for you thoughts.
I'll start lookin for a new horse soon!
GT

no words can express how bad that sucks...sorry m6rv6.

whee wrote:no words can express how bad that sucks...sorry m6rv6.

exactly..there just arent' any words..

Add one more "I'm so sorry" from me. Dang that stinks.

Man, what a sick feeling.

I had an ounce of that feeling at Johnson Creek last year. I was getting ready to head home and the engine was cold and wouldn't start. After too much priming and cranking it caught on fire. Thank the Lord that some friends I met were watching me leave, yelled fire, and quickly ran and got their fire dry chemical extinguisher. It's amazing how quickly things get out of hand. Mine was out in about 15-20 seconds, but I swear it was going to burn up right there on the spot (and no, I didn't have a fire extinguisher at the time ).

I had a lot to think about (and many conversations with God) on that 7hr flight home to CO.

Been away for a couple days.

Sorry George,

Nothing like the sinking feeling of watching things fall to crap! Sorry about your loss. Glad you weren't hurt (physically). I was really looking forward to seeing your 195 sometime this Summer

Chris

I look at your plane, the hours you have spent on it, the places you have gone, and the plans you made that are no more.
I know your loss when I look at my own plane because these are the things I would see in mine.
I hope you find another.

Well, at least it was A) on the ground at the time, and B), unoccupied at the time. Apart from that, yeah, end result = sucks

Well, Ummm, CRAP

That is about all I can say.
So sorry to see such a magnificent bird go in that manner....hope you feel better and get back in the air soon.

Brian.

I'm extending whee's comment. I'm at a lose of words. I truly am sorry for your lose.
WW

Wow

Like everyone else, nothing I can say will cover it. I’m truly sorry.

Hey George, sorry, I hope all works in your favor with the insurance.

Regards...Rob

Wow, George. That's tough to see. Hope you are back airborne soon, whether it be another sweet 195 or some other cool ride.........

Thanks for sharing about the general uselessness of the weenie FIRE EXTINGUISHER's most of us carry around on a gas fire. Not sure I'd want to pack anything bigger, but shit, it makes you think.

(That better, Tadpole?)

Flynengr

flynengr wrote:Thanks for sharing about the general uselessness of the weenie FE's

I can't belive you just called yourself and your fellow FE's weenie and useless! WOW, I'm glad I didn't retrain into FE afterall!