Just a gauge...

jeflies

jeflies

Well-Known Member
You're a new PIC for a 135 on demand charter company. A crew is flying into your home base (maintenance base) on a trip and you will take the aircraft down to Mexico for the remainder of the trip. You arrive at the airport shortly after 9pm and are greeted by the chief pilot, director of maintenance, the dispatcher, and another mechanic. After wondering why everyone is there working so late you ask and are told “A quick line A inspection is needed.” Ah ok, normal routine for a stop at a base.

You overhear the mechanic talking with the director of maintenance about a problem the crew had reported on the plane. Something about a gauge reading improperly? Finally the aircraft and crew arrive and it’s a hustle to get a fast turn so the freight will not be delayed. The PIC closes out the flight log and circles A indicating no discrepancies or MEL items. Goodnight guys!

After a thorough preflight, a fresh line A inspection it’s time to fly! WRONG! After starting the right engine the torque gauge is pegged to its limit. After shutting down the engines, your crowd of co-workers walks up and asks “What’s wrong?” as if they did not already know. After explaining what happened, the mechanics begin to troubleshoot. While they troubleshoot, the dispatcher answers calls and explains the slight delay and assures the customer the freight will be airborne shotly. The chief pilot confronts you and chats a bit. After 5 minutes they inform you it’s probably just a loose wire and it should be working. After another start up its obvious it is not working.

At this point you realize the aircraft is not airworthy. You question the dispatcher about the previous crew’s actions or knowledge with the problem. You’re told they informed dispatch of the “issue” on their previous fuel stop but neglected to write it up.

Now your name is signed onto the current log page for an “airworthy” aircraft that isn’t quite so. Do you follow your gut feeling and write it up? Do you ignore the gauge and fly it?!? What would you do? You’re the captain…
 
Write it up. If they fire you over it, you didn't want to work there anyway. The number of scenarios in which this could bite you is almost endless.
 
Write it up and issue a beatdown to the previous crew.
 
Write it up. If you get canned, it won't affect your career progression in a negative way; everybody knows about dirt bag operators that do stuff like this.
 
Yep, write it up, and it's not even close! Part of being PIC is learning how to say "no" when necessary. Sometimes you have to stick your neck out, but no amount of freight is worth losing your ticket for.
 
I agree with what everyone has posted in response and am happy to say that I did indeed write it up. This was MY predicament in late 08. It did cost me my job though.

Shortly after this happened, I was furloughed even though I was #2 seniority (new company) out of 12 or so pilots. I found myself unemployed for doing the right thing even though they blamed it on the economy.

Its been almost 15 months since it happened and they are still in business and have re-hired new pilots instead of calling back furloughs. I would not go back even if they did call mainly because of their handling of things like this. There are better jobs out there and hopefully I'll land something soon.
 
SD3 Junkie said:
I agree with what everyone has posted in response and am happy to say that I did indeed write it up. This was MY predicament in late 08. It did cost me my job though.

Shortly after this happened, I was furloughed even though I was #2 seniority (new company) out of 12 or so pilots. I found myself unemployed for doing the right thing even though they blamed it on the economy.

Its been almost 15 months since it happened and they are still in business and have re-hired new pilots instead of calling back furloughs. I would not go back even if they did call mainly because of their handling of things like this. There are better jobs out there and hopefully I'll land something soon.
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proud of your decision... I know it's hard to do the right thing sometimes. PM me your times...
 
I would think the FAA would be interested in pilot pushing and MELs not entered in the maint log.

Sorry about losing your job but how much is your life worth?
 
Bumblebee said:
I was thinking the local FSDO may be interested in that as well...
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A long time ago, we used to leave notes to the follow-on crew of things that were.. well.. you know.. acting goofy or telling the next crew about problems. The FAA jumped on that one with both feet. NOT acceptable.

I would think system faults NOT entered in the maint log would be a red flag for the guys with soft sole shoes.
 
I wouldn't say it was a difficult decision to make, but it was uncomfortable. No one likes to ground an airplane that you know is paying the bills and payroll of yourself and other employees.

I agree, this is something the FSDO would love to know about but I'm not sure if its my position to rat them out. I did my job and wrote it up. They have inspectors and a POI that, I would hope can spot the red flags. Should I inform the FSDO? Would you?
 
SD3 Junkie said:
I agree, this is something the FSDO would love to know about but I'm not sure if its my position to rat them out. I did my job and wrote it up. They have inspectors and a POI that, I would hope can spot the red flags. Should I inform the FSDO? Would you?
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15 months later? I doubt it. But lesson learned.
 
Write it up and Aircraft is Red.. Down Hard. Time to find a Recovery, and transload the freight. Happens all the time. The pilots are not the ones that get yelled at by the customer, the Customer Service Rep is, and they handle it daily, so this is a non issue.

If the airline takes action against the pilot for a safety issue, then I would reconsider working for them.
 
I think the Feds have bigger fresher fish to fry and even then I am sometimes surprised at what they go after and what they don't. I was talking to a Navion driver this weekend who was at the big DC-3 rally before Oshkosh and a local DC-3 driver in the ATL area had recently gotten real sideways with the local airport gendarmes, so much so so that after starting an engine with a little badge waving female standing near the prop and taxiing around before he was blocked on the taxiways by cops a step up or two in authority, he was tossed to the ground and spent a few days in the hoosgow before the judge even allowed bail. AND HE IS ALREADY BACK FLYING. ???
 
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