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Hi All; The first thing I need to remember is not to press the enter key prematurly. Ha Ha OK It seems there are a number of Coupers that were unaware of the theft of parts which occured to N87284 S/N 457 several months ago. I will recap that story at this time. I purchased S/N 457 about 8 years ago, and immediatly placed her in outside storage at a small airport owned by a friend, in south central Missouri. I returned from time to time to check on things at the airport and with my two aircraft in storage there. As did the owner on a regular basis. About 4 months ago, I relocated to Minnetonka, Mn. I searched and located a hanger to rent, so I could at long last get my aircraft and I in the same location. 3 months ago I returned to Missouri, trailer in tow, to recover one of the aircraft. Upon arriving at the airport, I looked into the cockpit and discovered the control yokes and Shafts had been removed. Needless to say I was a little upset. Then I noticed the Fuselage fuel cap was missing. Hummm where could it be? I noticed a piece of leather covering the hole in the fuselage where the filler neck should be, so I removed it, thinking the theif was considerate enough to cover fuel tank, but when I looked into the hole, I found I was looking at the belly skin of the airplane. Now I was really mad! It didn't help that it was pouring rain while My wife, my father, and myself tried to load the plane. I was so mad I could have bitten some rivets into. When I begain to secure the coupe to the trailer, I noticed the engine mount was all bent and twisted.....This was not my engine mount!!!!!And what is this.....Green Nose Gear!!!!! That is not my nose Gear!!!!!My Nose gear was all white!!!!! Now I was past mad and I wanted to get a hold of some one.....namely the theif. As soon as the coupe was loaded, My wife and returned to Minneapolis, then on to the hanger and unloaded. I drove all night. I was so mad there was no way I could sleep. After returning the trailer, and getting home, I called my friend only to find out he was out of town until the next week. When I did finally get in touch with him, he had told me that everything was there and installed in the coupe the weekend prior to arrival. So the thief had done this in less than a week. For those coupers that had missed my original posting, this has been a recap. The thief is still out there.........somewhere, sporting stolen coupe parts. To respond to other people's questions: No the Coupe was not in a flyable condition. I am still looking for an engine. When I heard of the coupe, it was sporting an 0-200. After working a trade with the owner, I aquired it, Minus the engine. The airplane had belonged to an older gentilman. I don't recall his name. He had removed the wings for recovering. (metalized wings) and had them at another location. Unfortunatly he passed away be for this was complete and the airplane was passed on to another gentleman in Michigan in an estate sale. The original wings are out there somewhere. The gentleman that purchased the coupe in the sale removed the engine for use in a Cessna 150 he was restoring. I have purchased some metalized wings, but they are in need of some repair as well. I have not opened them to inspect for corrosion as yet. And the inspection plate AD has not been done on them yet either. It will only take time and money to get N87284 Back in the air. Hopefully it will be in about 2 years, unless I win the lottery and can devote 60 hrs a week to her restoration. But that is really dreaming. Happy Landings to all Christopher Lawson N87284 S/N 457 __________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
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