The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I've had a mishap in my 1952 170 B - a nose over in the desert due to soft ground and pilot inattention.
There was a prop strike and damaged cowling and possibly engine mount and firewall issues. It has a Lycoming A4A engine.
The plane is now on a truck in the Sacramento, CA area.
The insurance co is asking for 3 repair estimates from different shops. I obviously want this done right and at this point, cost is not an issue.

Can anyone suggest a really together A&P or shop in the area?
Chris Mullins

Hello, Chris!
Sorry to hear about the incident!
You'll doubtless receive several suggestions from our Calif. members...but I wanted to suggest to you that ins. co's often ask for multiple estimates... yet they will settle in most cases with whichever shop you select. Just a word of caution: An exceptionally-large repair estimate may lead to an unintended consequence of having your airplane totalled...and not repaired. Many, if not most, policies provide that when 70% or more of the insured-value is required in repair-estimates...that the underwriter may take possession of the airplane and simply pay you your insured value less any deductible.
You may also find it difficult to actually obtain 3 estimates because making estimates costs a shop time and money, yet they will realize that they are only competing amongst two other bidders. Therefore many shops may decline to even provide an estimate. (Besides, even if they win a bid, their attempt to keep the bid low in order to win the bid...places them at risk of losing money and/or having subsequent revisions rejected by the underwriter.)

Just hoping this is helpful to you.
Keep us posted for all our own education, OK?

Can you write an article and take pics to help the rest of us avoid similar incidents? Send to headquarters@cessna170.org

Good luck on this!

Call Harry Dellicker at Del-Air in Porterville. The repair may not get done quickly, but it will be done right.
(559) 784-9440

Keep in mind you don't have a standard 170. Harry has a reputation of being very knowledgable of all the 170 Lycoming mods and in this case might be an excellent (maybe only) choice.

Talk to Bob Ross at United flight in Watsonville. http://www.united-flight.com/index.html Bob is a first class metal and mechanical guy and his partner in crime Terry McKenna is an engine guru. Both of them are two of the nicest guys in the business, and both are IA's. Bob loves 170's and has rebuilt many from the ground up.

Mather aviation is located at Mather Field in Sacramento. Good reputation - but expensive. Oakland Aircraft Maintenance located on the North Field of Oakland International is a good maintenance facility -I have had good experience with them and they are reasonable. There is also Aircraft Maintenance Inc., located at the Livermoe airport. Harry Dellicker is always a good choice.

D&D Aircraft Services 918 W Chandler Fresno, CA 93706 (559) 268 8516 Chris Delahaunty. Excellent sheet metal work and experienced at rebuilding and restoring older Cessnas. Has worked with insurance companies. Chris can also handle the entire engine repair but I would also check with Lycon in Visalia, CA. Ken Tunnel (find contact info on internet). Be patient and good luck.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I'll be getting on the phone tomorrow and figuring out the next steps.

I'd like to say that the insurance company holding the policy has been really outstanding so far - Britt-Paulk, purchased thru Falcon Insurance Agency in Kerrville,TX.
I'll repost if that opinion should change.

Also, for interest and educational purposes, I have attached a photo of the dry lake surface that gave me so much trouble. There was a hard mineral crust about 1/3" thick and dry slit beneath - perhaps analogous to ice on a lake surface.
My plane has 180HP and would not move from the photographed position even with full throttle. This was not intuitive to me.