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in 1995, I was working windstorm for GAB in San Francisco and was assigned three files (for two different carriers) up North in the Ukiah and Clear Lake areas.  Inspected the three claims in one day and put 408 miles on my fairly new Escort wagon, which I believe is the highest one day mileage I have incurred in my adjusting career, storm or otherwise.

Several months later I was working a Hailstorm for GAB doing claims for State Farm in the White Settlement area of Texas.  Both GAB and the State Farm office were in the same building less than two miles from the apartment I rented.  The neighborhood I was assigned was right next to the office.  I closed 116 files and put 378 miles on my still fairly new Escort.  I actually had four houses in a row on one street, I just carred my ladder from house to house until I was done, then went back to get the car.  This is by far the least miles per claim I have ever run into in my adjusting career.

Now it seems every claim I get is 90 miles in one direction. 

Ya takes da good wid da bad....

Jeff

It was in 1990 and I was working a good hail storm for State Farm in Nicholas Hills, OK. (North of OK city) ( also the days when the local SF manager could call in his buds and knock these out quick. A GA from Pittsburg ran the whole show, very smooth) All the houses were small 14-15 sq. 3 tab roofs on 4/12 pitch.

It was memorial day and ever home owner went to the lake on a picnic and nothing to slow me down like "talk" I inspected 25 that day and wrote then all up the following day and drove less than 50 miles. I did not have appointments, but the homeowners knew I was working that day. When I was finished in OK City I worked the largest physical hail ( baseball to grape fruit I had ever seen) in Benver for Pilot and Allstate, yes 1990 was a good year.I used an old DOS program IMANET cost $300. for a life time.The print out was on 3 part NC paper on a 9 pin printer.

Posted By okclarryd on 31 Aug 2009 10:06 PM
I worked a couple of hundred ice dam claims in Detroit, south of 12 Mile, down in the inner city.

Last week I did a 2nd inspection for an Ice Dam claim in Detroit.  When the guy opened the door, instead of a coat-rack in the entry, or a hall table, there was a baseball bat leaning into the corner near the door - in case it was needed.  You could tell it was a standard part of the decor, and likely been there for years, ready for use.

Now for the sweet, the prior 2 months were in Troy Michigan, north of 14 mile, nicer neighborhoods, working east to the lake. Nice scenery.  Stark contrast to the burnout buildings that just sit there, and the abandoned factory south-east of Detroit with 1/2 the glass knocked out...

SWEET: Back in 1975 I was in my office at the North Little Rock Airport, which was a small terminal building I had leased from the city. It had glass on two walls that allowed viewing of the runway, which was runway 36 and 18. I heard a twin engine plane at the end of runway 18 doing a mag check on his engines. After hearing a backfiring noise and the engine cutting out, I went to the window to watch. I thought to myself that the pilot would be taxiing back to the hangar, as the engine was not running right. Man, was I fooled. The pilot pushed to full power on both engines and started rolling out for a take off, the one engine, left engine, sputtering and making all kinds of flaky noise. I ran out of my office to watch which direction the Piper Commanche would be going. Being an aviation accident adjuster, I was concerned for the safety of the pilot and anyone on the ground in the event he had an engine failure, as there were several residential communities in the area. My secretary, Judy, ran out when she saw me scurry out the door. She saw the plane also, and as it got near a quarter mile away, we could hear the engine continuing to backfire and then suddenly the engine quit running.

The Piper was designed to run on one engine, so that did not give me concern until I saw the plane turning into the failed engine, instead of turning into the engine that was running, as is required. He obviously was going to try to turn back to the airport, but did not follow flight rules for a dead engine. The plane was about 500 to 700 feet up and started a spiral toward the ground. I kept my eyes on the plane as long as I could until he hit ground about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the airport. I told Judy to call the FAA GADO office and advise them of a plane down. I jumped in my Cessna 182 that was parked in front of the office and taxied to the runway, did my run up and took off. I was hoping I could spot the downed airplane quickly, but, he had gone down in a wooded area and spotting an airplane in the woods was difficult. I advised the Little Rock control tower I was near the airport looking for a downed airplane and asked them to advise other pilots that I was near the approach end of Rwy. 36 and to avoid that area, so I would not have to be concerned about a mid air collision. Judy called me on the unicom radio and advised the FAA was on their way out. I told her when I located the airplane that I would drop toilet paper on the area, and they could follow it. I did finally find it.  I climbed to 1,000 feet so the toilet paper would leave a long trail. I circled the area and then Judy advised the FAA was there and to drop another roll of paper, which I did. They arrived at the scene, and I flew back to the airport. They found the pilot alive and had choppered him to a hospital.

Two days later I got a call from Omni Aviation Managers with an assignment to investigate a downed Piper twin Commanche. Guess what, it was the airplane I had watched take off and later found crashed. I had the aircraft recovered and brought back to the airport to do an intensive examination on the reason the left engine was squawking. The FAA investigators and NTSB were also there to investigate. There was nothing wrong with the Continental engine, the man had a lot of water in his left fuel tank. I thought, what  a moron to have done that, but at least he was alive, but in critical condition. It took me 3 months to take a pilot statement, as he suffered a brain injury. He did thank me for finding him and was appreciative I was the adjuster handling his loss. It all ended well, until:

BITTER: In 1994, after moving back to Arkansas from Florida, we had settled into our home and was looking forward to working catastrophe claims. We received a phone call from an investigative reporter from one of the news stations in Dallas. He told me he was doing a piece on a man that had shot a Mexican in the back for trespassing on his property. He had information that I had worked the claim that caused brain damage to the defendant, who happened to be the pilot of the downed airplane. Seems he was saying the brain injury was the cause of his shooting the trespasser. Apparently he had been charged with second degree murder. The reported was asking me medical questions that I could not answer, but just kept going with the questions. I tried to tell him, and Janice was listening to the conversation, that I was not a medical professional and could not say anything about his mental state. I did, however, tell him the man appeared to be cognizant when I took his pilot statement. The reporter was not rude, but just kept at it trying to get me to say something I was not going to say. I did not find out how the trial went, but I was saddened to the fact that I helped save one life and then that life turned around and killed another human being for trespassing on his property. Come to find out the Mexican and many others used a short cut through this mans property to reach a destination. How damn sad. I was somewhat surprised that I was not summoned to appear at trial, but was very glad I had not been.

Yow- I think many others pale in comparison...

Good - psychic kick on a blue roof in So. Fl watching sunset and knowing that finally the insured was getting some help. There is a big picture purpose to working claims after a horrible event.
Also - not from adjusting but working on an assignment at a resort hotel in Palau (about 2 hours flight east of the Philippines) and having my fee inclusive of all the scuba diving I could do since the resort had a dive shop... dive in the AM and work on the project in the PM for about 1.5 weeks... good gig.

Bad- dangerous part of FL when I was on the roof and fights started at the bball court across the street...a very nervous moment since I was front and center next to the court. Lesson #1, arrive in the AM and not at 4:00 PM, #2, tie off your ladder to the gutter for a number of reasons. #3, make a point of walking Ms. insured around more visibly to reinforce that hurting an adjuster also hurts a neighbor. Nothing ended up happening, but I did learn a lot.

These are all great stories..... There are many ups and downs in this rat race but the pinnacle is getting pay notification where my hard work is rewarded with my bank statement!

Back in 1989, I spent about 10 weeks in St. Thomas working Hugo.  Sweet...very sweet!!