Seriously, do you not realize I am not listening to you?

bdhill1979

bdhill1979

Gone West
So today my boss opened the door on the 210 in high winds and damn near got it ripped off, snapped the door hinge right off. The door would close and latch, but it wasn't a perfect fit.

So we are in the FBO calling around to see if we can find a replacement and no luck, it can be overnighted on monday, be there tuesday.

I decide we are not flying it home that way

During this time some pilot that was there keeps telling us to just tape it and fly home.

I say "No, It may stay on, it may not, I'm not going to find out the hard way"

He says he knows it won't come off

I say "Not going to find out"

He says the airflow will keep it on

I say "Not going to find out"

He says he has some thousands of hours and type ratings in five airplanes

I say "good for you, It may stay on, or it might not. I'm not going to have it come off and take my horizontal stabilizer with it, making me a guy with a few thousand hours and a headstone"

He says you should have seen the 210 I ferried from wherever last week, it was falling apart

I say "so what?"

He keeps talking

I ignore him and make arrangements to have the local mechanic fix it, and get us on a Southwest flight home.


We are on our way out the door, he is still saying we should just tape it and go.

No real point to this other than venting, it really pisses me off when I have made a PIC decision, and some total stranger disagrees with it.
 
good on you for not listening to that d-bag, it seems like everyone likes to have an opinion when the spot light is not on them, and its not their ticket and passengers lives on the line.
 
Based on the title, I thought my Ex found me on Jetcareers!

Whew!

Glad you stood your ground.

b.
 
For what you describe, it probably would have been fine. You should have taped it up and gone home.








(:D)
 
bdhill1979 said:
Funny thing is, the guy said he was a Mesa pilot
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Heh. It probably would have been fine, but thats a big probably. The airflow would tend to keep the door closed, even if it is not totally flush with the fuselage.

I would have just suggested you take the door off and put it in the back seat and ferry it like that. Might get a little cold though.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Heh. It probably would have been fine, but thats a big probably. The airflow would tend to keep the door closed, even if it is not totally flush with the fuselage.

I would have just suggested you take the door off and put it in the back seat and ferry it like that. Might get a little cold though.
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I considered that. But it was starting to rain, and would have been IMC for much of the route; let alone the cold, noise, and general lameness of flying with one door missing for two hours.

"Uh, Los Angeles center.....huh? What?"

Lil_Jon_Dave_Chappelle_L_461c9a590d.jpg
 
Lol. What a great story. Musta been Colgan old school then Mesa.

I've had to do something similar (only once though), theres a toolbag at every airport across america, making at least 19,128 tool bags.
 
jynxyjoe said:
Lol. What a great story. Musta been Colgan old school then Mesa.

I've had to do something similar (only once though), theres a toolbag at every airport across america, making at least 19,128 tool bags.
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Props for looking up the # of airports! :D

Thanks for the story, it may help someone on here stand up for a PIC decision down the line!
 
It's bad enough when another pilot questions your decision making, but wait until it's your boss. That's the real test of character.

Hopefully, this incident showed your boss that you stick to your guns in situations like this. Based on this, however, it sounds as if he doesn't question you to begin with. Consider yourself lucky.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
Hopefully, this incident showed your boss that you stick to your guns in situations like this. Based on this, however, it sounds as if he doesn't question you to begin with. Consider yourself lucky.
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Seriously, I do feel lucky in that regard.

He was standing there listening to the whole exchange and didn't say anything until we were out the door. As we were leaving he just said "That guy was a complete ass, I was waiting for you to cuss him out"
 
I don't know that I'd have cussed the guy out. Not exactly professional in front of the boss. If he got annoying enough I might have given him the old 'do you know what time it is?'

You guys should just tape it and fly.

Thanks we'll make other plans.

It'll be fine, you should just tape it and fly.

I'm not comfortable with that, we'll make other plans.

You should just fly it home.

Well thanks again btw, do you know what time it is?

It's 3:30.

Wrong. It's time for you to $tfu and realize I'm not going to listen to you.
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Always a crowd pleaser.
 
My question is pertains to his actions:
"What had you been eating? Was he trying to jump or just air out the compartment?
 
Joe Gremlin said:
I don't know that I'd have cussed the guy out. Not exactly professional in front of the boss.
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It was my boss that was surprised I didn't yell at the guy.

texas_pilot said:
My question is pertains to his actions:
"What had you been eating? Was he trying to jump or just air out the compartment?
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it was strong winds on the ground and the plane was facing away from the wind, so the when he opened the door it ripped forward.

the cabin seeps a lot of air so that has never been a problem in flight ;)
 
Good on ya for using your authoritah. I have to say there were a few times where I definitely wish I'd been a little more firm with people and said "you know what, I'm the PIC, so we're doing it my way" but I didn't. At least I learned something from it. Denny Fitch said in an interview I saw "Don't fly the plane until it's how YOU want it."
 
Good job!

Oftentimes the best decision isn't the most popular.

Besides, Leroy should have known that you were looking for a door, not an opinion.

I have thousands of hours and ratings on a few airplanes too, but none of then in or on a Cessna 210 with a questionable door hinge.

And the whole airflow thing, I guess none of his vast experience is in a Cessna 152 where when you hit turbulence sometimes, the door will spring open.
 
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