SkyHog
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2005
- Messages
- 18,431
- Location
- Castle Rock, CO
- Display Name
Display name:
Everything Offends Me
Yesterday was the day for me to get my complex endorsement. Everything was set up, plane filled just below tabs (9000ft DA), great smooth day.
So CFI is showing me the stuff that is different about the complex aircraft (this was a new cfi, so I let him explain it to me as if I'd never seen it before, just to make sure I didn't miss anything from the previous CFI), and when we hit the wing tips on the right wing, we see a pretty impressive crack on the edge of the wing. After I point it out to the CFI, he squeezes the edge of the wing tip with almost no force, and we could look right into the middle of the wing, it was a gaping hole.
We call a bunch of other people out to look, mostly in disbelief, as the plane had been flying all day long, no one had caught it. All agreed, after looking at the stress cracks all along the wing, all leading to the crack in the tip that it was most definitely not airworthy.
How could people miss that? It was pretty obvious to me.
Next week I'll try again in the other Arrow, which will hopefully be done with the other maintenance by then.
So CFI is showing me the stuff that is different about the complex aircraft (this was a new cfi, so I let him explain it to me as if I'd never seen it before, just to make sure I didn't miss anything from the previous CFI), and when we hit the wing tips on the right wing, we see a pretty impressive crack on the edge of the wing. After I point it out to the CFI, he squeezes the edge of the wing tip with almost no force, and we could look right into the middle of the wing, it was a gaping hole.
We call a bunch of other people out to look, mostly in disbelief, as the plane had been flying all day long, no one had caught it. All agreed, after looking at the stress cracks all along the wing, all leading to the crack in the tip that it was most definitely not airworthy.
How could people miss that? It was pretty obvious to me.
Next week I'll try again in the other Arrow, which will hopefully be done with the other maintenance by then.