I still see this ramp mummy every time I drop by Skypark (KBTF) in Woodscross / North Salt Lake:

I wish someone would restore thid sad maule. It has been sitting on merrill for a long time.

Clark wrote:I still see this ramp mummy every time I drop by Skypark (KBTF) in Woodscross / North Salt Lake:

About (4) years ago...you guys from Willamette Valley, Oregon, may have seen a Rockwell Commander at Lebanon (S30) that was abandoned. It got confiscated, sold for $900. A metal scrap company came with saws, cut it up and put it on trailer. I really like flying Commanders. Sadly, just like most reciprocal twins it's time is over no matter how "good" they are. Bummers

Santa Cruz Bolivia, spotted while training local ATPs ...on more recent equipment...

A big mummy in Buenos Aires

8GCBC wrote:

Clark wrote:I still see this ramp mummy every time I drop by Skypark (KBTF) in Woodscross / North Salt Lake:

About (4) years ago...you guys from Willamette Valley, Oregon, may have seen a Rockwell Commander at Lebanon (S30) that was abandoned. It got confiscated, sold for $900. A metal scrap company came with saws, cut it up and put it on trailer. I really like flying Commanders. Sadly, just like most reciprocal twins it's time is over no matter how "good" they are. Bummers

Why is that? Too expensive to keep maintained?

Other side...

I REALLY wish I could save that DC-3 and C-46

Twin bone in Palmer.

What's up with the concrete barricades? Theft protection...or sequestered due to non-payment of tie-down fees?

hotrod180 wrote:What's up with the concrete barricades? Theft protection...or sequestered due to non-payment of tie-down fees?

Looks to me like they're using them for tie-down anchors.

Some local ramp mummies. The Maule M-4 220C is sitting quietly at the Sierra Skypark in Fresno, CA, while the Fairchild is at the Visalia airport about 50 miles SE of Fresno...

What a shame to see those two in that kind of condition!
That PT26 should be sitting proudly at a warbird display somewhere, and that Maule should be blasting around the back country.
It never fails to amaze me that some people will let a valuable asset deteriorate like that. Arlington airport KAWO has a number of derelicts on the ramp, including several twins & a C185 amphib which were all worth a lot of money before the owners let them go to hell. IMHO none of them is worth shit now, except as an example in how NOT to treat your airplane.

hotrod180 wrote:It never fails to amaze me that some people will let a valuable asset deteriorate like that. Arlington airport KAWO has a number of derelicts on the ramp, including several twins & a C185 amphib which were all worth a lot of money before the owners let them go to hell. IMHO none of them is worth shit now, except as an example in how NOT to treat your airplane.

I've heard enough of stories on aircraft like these to not assume that they were valuable assets that were abandoned.

Broken engines. Bent fuselage. ADs that can't be complied with affordably. Junk avionics. Those kinds of things tend to pop up a lot after you scratch the surface. You mention twins. There are a bunch of twins out there with runout engines that can't be overhauled because the overhaul cost would be higher than just buying a comparable plane with engines that work.

For people who like planes, it's kind of a bummer, but a whole lot of the ramp mummies are planes that have simply reached the end of their economic lifetimes.

As a doctor I wonder about the psychology of the owners who delude themselves into thinking the planes are fine, and that they will fly them again soon and will NEVER sell them. I've known people who try to rescue a ramp mummy and the owners are incensed at the idea to sell an aircraft that they have obviously neglected into near worthlessness.

Not too long ago I was paying my rent at the airport, when another guy I don't recognize comes in to pay his. Turns out he's been paying rent on a Mooney that hasn't flown in 15 years! $27k in rent on a plane that you couldn't give away and have the new owner come out ahead at this point, unbelievable.

Ouch! This thread makes me wince.

hardtailjohn wrote:I thought it was over here that we were talking about this plane...but it must've been on another site. IF my memory serves me, this was at Willow, AK....like about '97??? Someone should know... and maybe someone will know what the heck they were trying to do with that leading edge?????
John

I distinctly remember this airplane when I was in 3rd or 4th grade unless there was another one just like this, I used to see it on the way to school riding in a behemoth station wagon facing backwards in the rear most seats (80's). It was on a dirt airstrip, on the Hillside of Anchorage. Not too far from where Atlee Dodge lived.

AKJurnee wrote:

hardtailjohn wrote:I thought it was over here that we were talking about this plane...but it must've been on another site. IF my memory serves me, this was at Willow, AK....like about '97??? Someone should know... and maybe someone will know what the heck they were trying to do with that leading edge?????
John

I distinctly remember this airplane when I was in 3rd or 4th grade unless there was another one just like this, I used to see it on the way to school riding in a behemoth station wagon facing backwards in the rear most seats (80's). It was on a dirt airstrip, on the Hillside of Anchorage. Not too far from where Atlee Dodge lived.

That plane used to sit at the Birchwood Airport back in 2005-2006 when I lived up there.

That plane used to sit at the Birchwood Airport back in 2014 when I lived up there! [emoji3]