Death of a Cessna

[Ztex]

We all see airplanes sitting in the corner of of our local airport. They sit for years...for the most part their stories are unknown. One day someone shows up with a tool box and a bunch of parts and fly's them away. Other times they just disappear.

My local Muni had a whole row of these forlorn airplanes... One day I drove by and all but one were gone... I know two moved to other parts of the field. One is in a hanger.

This 310 has been around for a long time...10 -15 years...I can't remember.

Last year I took this picture of it.


Earlier this week I drove by and saw this...She's headed to the salvage yard. I was told that the owner passed away several years ago and the airplane just sat there and became a birds nest.

Sad...I feel a bit of remorse because I couldn't do anything.

[wacoykc]

We have a 310 at my airport about the same way....sitting tied down outside the past 20 years and not flown or started!!!! Have a C150 owned by the same guy sitting next to it that has not flown in at least 10 years....darn shame.

[K5DH]

There's a Navion at Lakeview Airport that's been sitting in the same exact spot for at least 24 years that I know of. I've watched it go slowly downhill over the years. The interior's totally gutted, the plexiglass has been holed by vandals and hail storms, and the aluminum skin is terribly corroded. The engine and prop are still in place, but I imagine the engine is little more than a big paperweight by now. The airframe is totally infested by big, angry, territorial wasps with a very short temper. I learned of their existence when I climbed up on the wing to look inside last summer! Rumour has it that the owner still pays the tie-down fee (must be true; that's the only reason I can think of that would keep it from having been scrapped decades ago). I looked up the N-number, and the owner was listed as being in Denton, just up the road from here. Ya gotta wonder. . .

Cheers!

[Canso42]

Zane, that isn't a bird nest, that's rat doo in the front of that cowling. UGH!

Doug the exterminator

[RyanShort1]

I've seen several airplanes like that myself at some of the small airports around here. Sometimes I wish I could find an owner that'd let me fly it for em and keep it in shape - or let me have it ... It'd be nice for the gas and cash to go towards my own plane rather than renting. Some of the one's I've seen won't be worth what it'd take to restore them if they're left there much longer.

Ryan

[Ryan Keough]

There's an engineless Cessna 310 that's been down on the PHI ramp near Swift Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harbor -- it's certainly not exactly a flyer and looks like it's been there for many, many years.

Seems like every airport has at least one. There's a ramp at Nashua Airport that has a lot of desirable planes that are fading away.

Anyone know the story on a Stinson V-77 sitting on the ramp rotting away at Orange County Airport near Montgomery, NY? See: http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

(yes, the fabric is completely rotted through the wing..)

[skybolt2003]

I'll check. I seem to recall it's changed-moved perhaps. I know of several people who tried to buy it from the owner and save it but he refused. One friend who was looking at it 10 years or so ago thought that it was too far gone back then to restore.

What about the beagle to the West behind the gas pit? It looks like a pretty cool plane-it's been derelict as long as I've been flying out of MGJ too, which is since the late 80's.

[skybolt2003]

On the Reliant- the wing spar is a steel tube truss and was heat-treated which is why my friend thought this one was too far gone.