So I've had a tough run of it lately. When I was bringing my airplane home from the mechanic who diagnosed my low oil pressure, I noticed a light mist of red oil on my windshield. I called the prop guy in my area and he said to fly it and cycle the prop all the way through to make sure everything was fully lubed. When I went back out to do follow his instructions later that week, I discovered that my co-pilots bladder was starting to seep at the little vent hole. I flew it a couple laps around the pattern, cycled the prop, etc and the red mist was still apparent. When I got back I left my cover off to not stain it with avgas dye. Well, before I could get it to the shop who was also going to do the prop seal and bladder, we had a pretty significant wind event blow through. Even though my pilots door was locked, the door popped open, ripped off the door steward and proceeded to bash the strut repeatedly until the structure of the door frame was good and bent. Its flyable but damaged pretty badly. Insurance is going to cover the whole deal but the downtime sucks. There's not alot of shops in the SE that want to tackle this even though its a fairly straightforward repair. Plus I am having a hard time finding the structure assembly - Cessna part # 0711023-59 - if anyone has any ideas. I've tried all the big guys, texas air, air salvage of dallas, bas, air exchange.....the last two months have been one big maintenance bummer but I knew that going in buying a 60 yr old hunk of metal. The downtime just sucks!

So, if anyone has any ideas on the door part or knows a good airframe shop in the SE US, let me know. Thanks!

There is an air salvage place in Palmer, Alaska, that probably has the door. Give Dave a call at (907) 745-6969. This is a land line only. He probably has what you want. I feel your pain.

Ross

I just replaced my doors on my 62 Cessna 180E - my pilots side door is in good shape. Its available if you are interested.

Skywagon city usually has doors. I got one from them not long ago.

pipeliner wrote:There is an air salvage place in Palmer, Alaska, that probably has the door. Give Dave a call at (907) 745-6969. This is a land line only. He probably has what you want. I feel your pain.

Ross

Thanks! If Corefile's door doesn't work, I'll call him.