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Old March 19th 06, 01:46 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default Would you fly this Aircraft?

The first 100 hours on a brand new airplane, the first hour
after an inspection and the first 5 hours after maintenance
are times to be very extra cautious about the airplane, are
all the spark plugs properly torqued? Are the fuel lines
secure? Are the control cables routed and safetied?

Things that have happen to me personally on such airplanes,
just a sample.
Exhaust manifold broke the welds on one bank, this let the
exhaust drop into the air blast where it caused a lot of
vibration and would be blown back up, this cycle repeated
about 2 seconds. I was in a new airplane, carrying my first
passenger and about 10 miles from a landing. Almost 40 years
ago.
Test flying a Beech Duke that had just finished the annual
inspection, at about 12,000 feet the clamp that secures the
exhaust pipe to the turbocharger broke, which allowed the
hot exhaust gas to melt a very big hole in the cowling. All
I saw was a small spot on top of the left engine change
color, like the paint was a different shade of tan. Shut
down the left engine and returned for landing. The shop gad
wanted me to test fly it the night before, which wouldn't
have let me see the paint change color. A 1/2 inch fuel
line (stainless steel) was very close to the hot blast.

Tools left in the airplane become my property.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"C J Southern" wrote in message
...
|
| "Jose" wrote in message
| . net...
|
| The crux of the question really is "if the licenced
and qualified
| engineer -
| who would get paid for fixing the problem if there was
a problem - says
| that
| it's OK, does one trust that?
|
| Do you trust the FBO? Why or why not? Follow the
money.
|
| From a FBO position it's really not a "money thing" (I
used to run the
| outfit, and I know that that doesn't enter into it) - as
far as trusting
| engineers go, well, it's been my experience that they know
their stuff
| pretty well, but like all of us they make mistakes - and
I've been around
| the game long enough to have experienced many situations
where the aircraft
| has gone into the shop with 1 fault, and come out with 2
new ones - so I
| guess you could say that a "healthy dose of suspicion goes
a long way in
| this business".
|
|
|