Posted for "John W. Cox" :

Bryan - excellent post on the tragic loss to Hoyt and his bride on
N727TF as a result of a combination of human errors by a great painter.

At the airline that I work for, we can have 10 birds in the roost with
fuel at the same time. Our Heavy Check projects include open Jet A fuel
bays. With 100 personnel at risk at one time we require that every
single aircraft is always immediately grounded upon entry and just not
disconnected until just prior to removal.

Tom did not have this aircraft grounded, there was a drop cloth issue,
the fuel vapors did combine with ambient air (because the fuel cell cap
was not properly closed) to create the volatile mixture and the rest is
the financial devastation. AVGAS vapors are even more unforgiving.

The new hangar I just completed for my kit has two grounding rods driven
8 feet down through the crushed rock sub base and 6" concrete pad at two
locations under potential park spots. The cost and effort is a simple
investment on the road to learning from Hoyt's tragic loss. It is
amazing that owners do not understand the value of grounding the
aircraft. Helicopter pilots and their wench operators live with the
need daily.

John Cox