KBTL Hawker 800 crash

CFI A&P said:
That’s a full house.
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Whenever I’ve been on a test flight it’s been either because it was an issue that we couldn’t duplicate on the ground and we needed to see what the pilots were seeing or it was written into the operators GMM. It had nothing to do with not trusting what the crew was telling us but just having either some additional equipment on board or someone with some knowledge about how the systems worked that weren’t confined to the cockpit. For example I used to take care of a G-IV owned by an elderly lady with bionic hearing and certain sensitivities. The airplane would run perfectly and she’d complain about a clunking noise just after takeoff when the gear was retracted. Eventually we figured out what was bothering her was the brakes stopping the MLG wheels before they entered the wheel wells. It had to be explained to her that there wasn’t any remedy after thoroughly investigating the brake system. As I mentioned she also had bionic hearing and would complain about a high pitched noise during cruise flight, the crew tried to find the source of the offending noise during flights and came up empty. We suspected based on the description maybe it was a pressurization leak somewhere in the cabin. We did a max delta-p ground check with folks spraying leak check fluid all over the exterior of the aircraft and found no excessive noise or leaks. We flew and took the airplane up to 45,000’ and found nothing. It was finally found sitting in a hangar with a GPU plugged in. There was an audio amplifier mounted behind the sidewall next to the VIP seat that had a cooling fan. Avionics folks came in and relocated it and the problem was solved. I don’t mind going on test flights but if I don’t trust the crew I’m just not going.
 
knot4u said:
Whenever I’ve been on a test flight it’s been either because it was an issue that we couldn’t duplicate on the ground and we needed to see what the pilots were seeing or it was written into the operators GMM. It had nothing to do with not trusting what the crew was telling us but just having either some additional equipment on board or someone with some knowledge about how the systems worked that weren’t confined to the cockpit. For example I used to take care of a G-IV owned by an elderly lady with bionic hearing and certain sensitivities. The airplane would run perfectly and she’d complain about a clunking noise just after takeoff when the gear was retracted. Eventually we figured out what was bothering her was the brakes stopping the MLG wheels before they entered the wheel wells. It had to be explained to her that there wasn’t any remedy after thoroughly investigating the brake system. As I mentioned she also had bionic hearing and would complain about a high pitched noise during cruise flight, the crew tried to find the source of the offending noise during flights and came up empty. We suspected based on the description maybe it was a pressurization leak somewhere in the cabin. We did a max delta-p ground check with folks spraying leak check fluid all over the exterior of the aircraft and found no excessive noise or leaks. We flew and took the airplane up to 45,000’ and found nothing. It was finally found sitting in a hangar with a GPU plugged in. There was an audio amplifier mounted behind the sidewall next to the VIP seat that had a cooling fan. Avionics folks came in and relocated it and the problem was solved. I don’t mind going on test flights but if I don’t trust the crew I’m just not going.
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The Princess and the G
 
BlueMoon said:
Are these stall tests specific to Hawkers? Or do other aircraft have these tests required after specific maintenance.
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AFAIK, they're specific to Hawkers. Long story, but the short version is they had little straight-pipe turbojets which didn't put out enough bleed air to heat the wings on the originals. They elected to keep the type certificate with that restriction, when they hung turbofans on them, so now they're eternally stuck with TKS panels and the egg-timer. This is fine until you have to do any mx to the wings that involves removing the TKS panels. Then it gets a bit dicey, as it seems like no one remembers how to glue the things back on properly. And that's how I got my test pilot wings.
 
BlueMoon said:
Are these stall tests specific to Hawkers? Or do other aircraft have these tests required after specific maintenance.
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Older Learjets have to do them such as the 35. But you need a certified test pilot from Bombardier to fly with you.

A friend of mine a Airnet got to do one after a bird strike required the leading edge to be replaced years ago.
 
arkflyr said:
Older Learjets have to do them such as the 35. But you need a certified test pilot from Bombardier to fly with you.

A friend of mine a Airnet got to do one after a bird strike required the leading edge to be replaced years ago.
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When I worked for "The One Who Shall Not Be Named" we did pretty heavy MX on all the models of Lears and we had a couple of pilots certified by Lear/Bombardier to perform the stall tests. I worked for other places that weren't afforded that privilege and the manufacturer had a list of contract pilots you could hire to fly the tests, many of them were retired factory test pilots. We once did a 12 year inspection on a LR-28 and the pilot we hired had actually been the same person that flew that exact airframe at the factory on its very first flight. Super knowledgeable and actually very helpful, they'd go for a flight and come back and he'd say "The left wing is dropping a little early, tighten up the spoiler a 1/2 turn.", and then they'd go out and do it again until he was satisfied and would sign it off. He was also very enthusiastic about flying the airplane and I suspect he might've wanted a couple more flights just for old times sake. I think if your going to be required to be a test pilot it shouldn't be your first rodeo.
 
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