[torquen]

I would like to caution people about using Old Dominion Freight Lines. I recently received my 40% Godfrey Aviation Extra 300 from a professional builder out of Midland Texas. The builder made an outstanding crate that was very strong and secured the plane very well. I had the crate sent to a friends business address because this saved me a few dollars.

When I went to pick up the crate from my friends business everything looked OK. There was a small split in the side of the crate where a fork from a Hi-Low had hit. The split did not cause any damage to the airframe nor did the fork go all the way through the crate.

When I brought the crate home and unpacked the plane I found that the plane had sever damage. The cowl had 3 impact points which chipped off the paint and also caused very deep cracks in the cowl that traveled about 9". The cowl ring was ripped from the cowl and broken in half, the engine box bottom was broken off, the F-1 former was broke loose from the motor box and also split in two. The side of the fuse next to the cowl also had a scrape all the way through the monokote to the wood.

I contacted Old Dominion Freight Lines right away to start the claim papers. I was needing a new cowl, red, white, metallic blue, aluminum, and clear to get everything back to normal. I added everything up and came to $200 dollars.

I submitted my claim and in the mean time went out and bought the materials I needed and started repairing. I did not charge for the damage to the plane, only for the cowl. About 3 weeks later I received the claim form in the mail and my claim was denied. The reason in the letter was that I don't have proof that the plane was damaged in their possession. I told them that the builder would not put a damaged plane in the crate. The plane was broken from the crate being dropped.

Now with a few phone calls they are trying to give me a 33% payback. But that was two days ago with no more word from them. Just wanted to caution people that Old Dominion will do everything possible to not support your claim.

Garrett Morrison
p.s. One person even told me that shipping a model airplane is not prohibited from Old Dominion. Even though the item was described to Old Dominion and written on the crate Model Aircraft.