Stranded in south of France - urgently looking for aircraft mechanic for replacing a tire in PA46

TomekZ,

Presumably you are sorted by now. How did you got on?

Modest proposal: Sell the Piper for scrap and buy a more capable airplane (with proper undercarriage).

I recall cutting a 31” Bushwheel open with a firm landing on a sharp rock. The Maule remained perfectly usable with one completely flat tyre (subsequently plugged by our local ag tyre garage and still in service).

Don’t know if you could solve the problem already.

Had the same issue 3 month ago in Tivat/Montenegro on a Sunday morning.
Flat left main tire on my Meridian. No chance to solve the problem local.
Called Piper Kassel. They have a complete exchange wheel on stock.
A pilot friend flew for the tools and wheel to Kassel in a DA42. He came to LYTV and we changed the wheel within 1h.
You need 2 jacks, one to lift the wing and a second one for the wheel.
Without the proper tools you are on the risk for an expensive damage.
Had a long phone call with Piper and believed them not to try for an unproven change without the designated jacks.

Peter wrote:

of those who are, most have notifications turned off

Depending on the device and app version, notifications can be enabled (or not) and muted (or not) on an individual contact basis. So AFAIK most people should be able to activate/unmute notifications for this group.

would it be possible to create a Telegram channel for emergencies and urgent problems only?

Sure; takes only minutes.

I see some issues however:

• many people are not on telegram
• of those who are, most have notifications turned off
• many who were on it uninstalled it, thinking it is used to track them
• as soon as somebody posts some “chat” on it, a load of people immediately turn off the notifications

As soon as the first post was made, I promoted it to the home page banners, which is how it got a quick reaction. Many people read only the banner threads

arj1 wrote:

would it be possible to create a Telegram channel for emergencies and urgent problems only?

A great idea IMO. That is how it works at sea in principle. In Norway we have RS A free association of volunteers and members, of the boating people, for the boating people. They have more than 50 rescue vessels. They rescue life, but their main job is helping people with all kinds of trouble, engine problems mainly, stranded people, all kinds of stuff. Much more than an app, but it has to start somewhere, and a common platform of information exchange is a good start IMO.

Snoopy wrote:

I don’t think another channel for yet another topic is viable because for it to be useful a critical mass of users is required. A higher number of users would be possible to reach in a EuroGA Telegram Group, however that would cannibalize the forum by shifting content. A vicious cycle ;).

@Snoopy the problem is that many people would have Telegram with notifications on their mobiles, but with forum they read it when they read it…
And again the channel for urgent things only.

@arj1

I don’t think another channel for yet another topic is viable because for it to be useful a critical mass of users is required. A higher number of users would be possible to reach in a EuroGA Telegram Group, however that would cannibalize the forum by shifting content. A vicious cycle ;).

@Peter, would it be possible to create a Telegram channel for emergencies and urgent problems only?

TomekZ,

Sorry just saw this. I’m not very far from you (Cuers), if you need someone to fetch a mechanic from somewhere and bring them to Avignon, I could do so on Tuesday. I could probably bring some appropriate tooling also. I haven’t yet JD to change a tire on my PA46 so I have no expertise. I do have the MM though.