Ice gone, Hangar doors open, plane still there! What a struggle this year in Wisconsin, lol.

Scott Sherer

After five days of chopping ice in front of my sliding hangar doors the doors finally opened. And there was my plane, looking great! Except that there was two inches of ice across the entire length and breadth of the hangar. The tires were frozen to the ground, the extension cords where frozen in the ice and my battery tender was totally covered in ice. The GFCI circuit breaker in my hangar had popped and the charger stopped charging (no surprise there, lol). After ten hours of melting ice with a torpedo heater and chopping more ice, I got the tires cleared and the tug loosened up. I used a hammer and a large screw driver to chop out the batter y tender, ran another extension cord and plugged it in. I expected nothing because it had been sealed in frozen water. However, it had not leaked and it started charging immediately. Unbelievable. I finally got the plane out of the hangar and it started in two blade turns. It warmed up fine and all of the avionics worked okay. I still have another week of chopping or melting to get the hangar back to normal unfortunately, but all is well. I'm planning on flying tomorrow for the first time since December 22. I can't wait! Till then, a few more Ibuprofen, please.