About Good Pilots and Bad Pilots

Going on 35 years as a professional pilot and aircraft
mechanic. My eldest son now also works as a full-time A&P.
Both of us have had owners refuse to fix squawks, saying
they would do it later or just skip it all together because
"we" were just trying to pad the bill.
Even worse, some shops management think that a fast job
keeps the customer happy and the shop manager may tell the
mechanic to stop working on a plane.
We have seen airplanes with landing gear ready to collapse
because rather than fix the motors and linkage, adjustments
have been made that would get a light even though the gear
was not properly locked. When the owner of that airplane
was actually told about the shoddy work that he had been
paying for he was grateful for the proper and more expensive
FIX.
Airlines are generally better at fixing things, but when
they fail to do the job, such as lubricating the elevator
jack screw on a DC 9 [Alaska] because it takes time to get
the grease in the tail. The result of that management
policy failure killed a bunch of people. The crew also
failed to reject flying the airplane even though it was not
really right for some time before the crash.

Remember people, the money you save on maintenance will not
pay for the funeral.



--
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.


"John Gaquin" wrote in message
. ..
|
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| news:tITJf.98200
|
| Remember, when the aircraft operator or owner takes his
| aircraft in for an inspection or to troubleshoot a
squawk,
| unless you fix what they find, it isn't corrected and
the
| plane may not be safe. Ask a few mechanics at the
airport,
| how many times they have not been allowed to fix a
problem
| because of cost or the need to fly a scheduled trip and
| they'll do it later?
|
| My conclusions are based upon many years of Part 121
airline experience.
| What are your opinions based upon?
|
|