Douchey Pilot Things. A list

Anybody that tells me they put gas in one of my diesel trucks, tractors, or my airplane is going to be immediately subjected to a series of follow-up questions.
 
People who wear weird shoes (like cowboy boot types).


People who say, “I’m pretty laid back.”


*turns out, they actually aren’t laid back. I feel deceived.



If you are laid back, you show it. You don’t have to say it. If you find yourself telling people you’re laid back all the time, you probably aren’t.
 
fholbert said:
That’s because a mechanic splashes through water, but a Captain walks on water.
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That particular airplane was maintained by the crew I was a part of (crews would be assigned a number of airplanes to take care of, being familiar with an airplane will allow a more expedient resolution when it's broken). You're right, regardless of the video of the airplane stopping on the taxiway, the door opening and the copilot exiting to remove the pins and then taxiing to the ramp and let the passengers get off. Of course the ramp also has video so the copilot reinstalled the pins with absolutely tattered "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" flags. Since the airplane had taken off with passengers and had to return to land it had to be reported to the FAA and they became very interested. So we had to jack up a G-V full of fuel and perform every landing gear functional test possible with our FAA PMI looking over our shoulder. Airplane was perfect. Luckily there was another airplane available to take the passengers to their destination so the company didn't lose the charter. But it took our entire group away from all of the other things we were working on for most of a day to satisfy the FAA. The pilots just walked away and there was never any discipline applied regardless of the evidence. There are good pilots but there's a lot of pilots who aren't honest enough to own up to a mistake if they think they can get away with it. We replaced the flags on the pins with the largest fluorescent green "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" flags we could find, they literally almost touched the ground when installed. We had another managed G-IV with a very particular chief pilot, he insisted that his gear door pins be attached by lanyards to his gear pins, maybe he'd forgotten them at some point in the past but he certainly never did when I was around that airplane.
 
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Cherokee_Cruiser said:
People who wear weird shoes (like cowboy boot types).


People who say, “I’m pretty laid back.”


*turns out, they actually aren’t laid back. I feel deceived.



If you are laid back, you show it. You don’t have to say it. If you find yourself telling people you’re laid back all the time, you probably aren’t.
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I wear cowboy boot even when I'm NOT working...
 
knot4u said:
That particular airplane was maintained by the crew I was a part of (crews would be assigned a number of airplanes to take care of, being familiar with an airplane will allow a more expedient resolution when it's broken). You're right, regardless of the video of the airplane stopping on the taxiway, the door opening and the copilot exiting to remove the pins and then taxiing to the ramp and let the passengers get off. Of course the ramp also has video so the copilot reinstalled the pins with absolutely tattered "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" flags. Since the airplane had taken off with passengers and had to return to land it had to be reported to the FAA and they became very interested. So we had to jack up a G-V full of fuel and perform every landing gear functional test possible with our FAA PMI looking over our shoulder. Airplane was perfect. Luckily there was another airplane available to take the passengers to their destination so the company didn't lose the charter. But it took our entire group away from all of the other things we were working on for most of a day to satisfy the FAA. The pilots just walked away and there was never any discipline applied regardless of the evidence. There are good pilots but there's a lot of pilots who aren't honest enough to own up to a mistake if they think they can get away with it. We replaced the flags on the pins with the largest fluorescent green "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" flags we could find, they literally almost touched the ground when installed. We had another managed G-IV with a very particular chief pilot, he insisted that his gear door pins be attached by lanyards to his gear pins, maybe he'd forgotten them at some point in the past but he certainly never did when I was around that airplane.
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I don’t know why gear pins and such are something seemingly foreign to many pilots. Growing up in mil jets, there were pins we pulled on preflight as pilots, and other pins that were pulled in an arm/de arm area by crews there. If the jet was empty of any external stores, or we were at a field where there were no end of runway crews such as a civil field, then it was up to us to determine that all remove before flight pins, including the ones we normally pull ourselves, were removed and stored in the gear well stowage box. We also had to know how to fuel the planes correctly, ie- using the external fuel panel, as you’d come to some civil fields where they weren’t fully familiar with that particular aircraft type for fueling and servicing purposes, such as the need to pull oil samples and the like. It’s nothing unusual to me, but I fly with a number of pilots where this is foreign to them……even seeing a plane with gear pins ever installed is foreign to them. Whereas to me, seeing a jet parked without gear pins in, is foreign to me.
 
MikeD said:
I don’t know why gear pins and such are something seemingly foreign to many pilots. Growing up in mil jets, there were pins we pulled on preflight as pilots, and other pins that were pulled in an arm/de arm area by crews there. If the jet was empty of any external stores, or we were at a field where there were no end of runway crews such as a civil field, then it was up to us to determine that all remove before flight pins, including the ones we normally pull ourselves, were removed and stored in the gear well stowage box. We also had to know how to fuel the planes correctly, ie- using the external fuel panel, as you’d come to some civil fields where they weren’t fully familiar with that particular aircraft type for fueling and servicing purposes, such as the need to pull oil samples and the like. It’s nothing unusual to me, but I fly with a number of pilots where this is foreign to them……even seeing a plane with gear pins ever installed is foreign to them. Whereas to me, seeing a jet parked without gear pins in, is foreign to me.
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They're afraid to get their hands dirty. Good luck asking one to hook up the steering links.
 
knot4u said:
They're afraid to get their hands dirty. Good luck asking one to hook up the steering links.
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I HATE it when the line guys connect my steering link!
I had one guy put connect it wrong so now it’s me ONLY. I put a “DO NOT TOUCH“ flag on the pin when I disconnect it.

When I was in the Citation, I had a line guy open the cabin door, go into the plane, release the parking brake, and then tow the plane. Even though the sign in the window showed in red “DO NOT TOW”! He forgot to disengage the control lock so I was left AOG until the FBO paid for an inspection. IDIOT!
 
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MikeD said:
I don’t know why gear pins and such are something seemingly foreign to many pilots. Growing up in mil jets, there were pins we pulled on preflight as pilots, and other pins that were pulled in an arm/de arm area by crews there. If the jet was empty of any external stores, or we were at a field where there were no end of runway crews such as a civil field, then it was up to us to determine that all remove before flight pins, including the ones we normally pull ourselves, were removed and stored in the gear well stowage box. We also had to know how to fuel the planes correctly, ie- using the external fuel panel, as you’d come to some civil fields where they weren’t fully familiar with that particular aircraft type for fueling and servicing purposes, such as the need to pull oil samples and the like. It’s nothing unusual to me, but I fly with a number of pilots where this is foreign to them……even seeing a plane with gear pins ever installed is foreign to them. Whereas to me, seeing a jet parked without gear pins in, is foreign to me.
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You’re the reason we had planes taking off with gear pins installed. The idiot former Air Force dudes who ran Southwest flight ops couldn’t get past “that’s how we did it in the Air Force.” :rolleyes:
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
You’re the reason we had planes taking off with gear pins installed. The idiot former Air Force dudes who ran Southwest flight ops couldn’t get past “that’s how we did it in the Air Force.” :rolleyes:
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They aren’t normally installed on civil planes, however that doesn’t mean pilots shouldn’t look for them, or be surprised in having to remove them if they happen to be installed. It’s not rocket science.

It’s a preflight item anyway, how do crews end up taking off with them installed? Even if the pins didn’t have the giant colored streamers installed, it’s still required to be checked that the pin hole is, in fact, empty during preflight. Its not the fault of pins being there, it’s the direct fault of lazy crews not taking the walk around seriously.
 
dustoff17 said:
I HATE it when the line guys connect my steering link!
I had one guy put connect it wrong so now it’s me ONLY. I put a “DO NOT TOUCH“ flag on the pin when I disconnect it.

When I was in the Citation, I had a line guy open the cabin door, go into the plane, release the parking brake, and then tow the plane. Even though the sign in the window showed in red “DO NOT TOW”! He forgot to disengage the control lock so I was left AOG until the FBO paid for an inspection. IDIOT!
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You're a rare breed. I bet you like to open cowlings too.
 
MikeD said:
They aren’t normally installed on civil planes, however that doesn’t mean pilots shouldn’t look for them, or be surprised in having to remove them if they happen to be installed. It’s not rocket science.

It’s a preflight item anyway, how do crews end up taking off with them installed? Even if the pins didn’t have the giant colored streamers installed, it’s still required to be checked that the pin hole is, in fact, empty during preflight. Its not the fault of pins being there, it’s the direct fault of lazy crews not taking the walk around seriously.
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You’re always consistent in your rush to blame pilots while ignoring basic human factors.
 
SlumTodd_Millionaire said:
You’re always consistent in your rush to blame pilots while ignoring basic human factors.
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For things like that, pilots are the final check. Different in the mil where there are situations that the pilot is the final check, and situations where ground crew are the final check. Unless maintenance or someone else installed them for some reason after someone did the walk around of an airliner, that would be one of the few exceptions.

What basic human factors are there? it’s a preflight/walk around item, then it’s to be checked. As in, not gloss it off. It’s even a before start checklist item where I fly, as well as a preflight item. Again, not rocket science.
 
MikeD said:
For things like that, pilots are the final check. Different in the mil where there are situations that the pilot is the final check, and situations where ground crew are the final check. Unless maintenance or someone else installed them for some reason after someone did the walk around of an airliner, that would be one of the few exceptions.

What basic human factors are there? it’s a preflight/walk around item, then it’s to be checked. As in, not gloss it off. It’s even a before start checklist item where I fly, as well as a preflight item. Again, not rocket science.
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This right here. Failure of gear pins being removed is a pilot error. There's really no one else to throw under the bus for that one. Whether it's Douchey Jeff that does it or me.
 
MikeD said:
For things like that, pilots are the final check. Different in the mil where there are situations that the pilot is the final check, and situations where ground crew are the final check. Unless maintenance or someone else installed them for some reason after someone did the walk around of an airliner, that would be one of the few exceptions.

What basic human factors are there? it’s a preflight/walk around item, then it’s to be checked. As in, not gloss it off. It’s even a before start checklist item where I fly, as well as a preflight item. Again, not rocket science.
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That's why I mentioned the pilot that wanted his gear door pins attached to his gear pins. He was a very thorough sort of person and wouldn't remove any of the pins until he'd done a thorough inspection of the airplane, including the wheel wells. He'd also physically check the oil level in the APU before he started it. I know some airplanes don't have APU oil dipsticks, but a G-IV does. He was also known to ask line service for an 8' ladder 30 minutes after he shutdown the engines to get an accurate engine oil level reading and would add oil as required and take dutiful notes to track oil consumption. I should also mention that pilot treated MX as if we were family, lunches, Christmas bonuses. He never second guessed us, it was just how he did things.
 
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