Pilot induced discrepancies

Tom-D

Tom-D

Taxi to Parking
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Tom-D
How many of you maintainers have a favorite tale how a pilot screwed things up?

I once had a pilot try to fix a mag drop by washing out the interior of the mag with electronic cleaner.
first crank of the engine the mag grenaded, When he couldn't get it started he calls me. I see that the mag had a cracked case, asked what he had done, I just closed the cowl and told him that he could call another mechanic.
 
This thread is in danger of triggering memories of running sour gas processing plants 35 years ago. My maintenance guys hated my operators because they "keep breaking everything", and my operators hated my maintenance guys because "they couldn't fix a tricycle properly". :mad2:
 
Yeah I could tell stories about pilots who broke things. I could also tell stories about fellow mechs who broke things. Some fellow mechs could tell stories about me breaking something. So what?
 
mscard88 said:
"Trolling Tom" ....... c'mon Tom you're better than this. Then again, maybe not. Give us a prop story maybe. :confused:
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post 5, already trying to de-rail the thread ??
Prop Story, local Navy Dr. owned a Mooney with a Lycoming 180 horse and a constant speed, came into OKH with the gear up, last minute he realizes his mistake, and makes the go around. but the prop left 6 big digs in the runway. the second landing with the gear down, he gets out and looks at the prop. and the curled tips. then fuels up and flew away.
 
Right Tom. We all know you're just trying to stir it up. :rolleyes:

:stirpot:
 
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Tom-D said:
post 5, already trying to de-rail the thread ??
Prop Story, local Navy Dr. owned a Mooney with a Lycoming 180 horse and a constant speed, came into OKH with the gear up, last minute he realizes his mistake, and makes the go around. but the prop left 6 big digs in the runway. the second landing with the gear down, he gets out and looks at the prop. and the curled tips. then fuels up and flew away.
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Damage a plane and fly away...I witnessed a couple of those:

Last year, my girlfriend and I were at a fly-in at a grass strip, when I guy comes in with a small experimental (something like a tri-gear sonex). The guy bounces the plane so hard, it ends up doing a "handstand" on its nose, breaking something in the nose gear strut (causing it to remain contracted), and ramming the wooden prop into the turf, stopping the engine. We helped the guy push the plane to the side of the runway, where he sat for a minute, then started it back up and took off -- with the prop hitting bits of turf on takeoff due to the collapsed nose gear.

Another time I saw a guy land a cub, and ground loop it right into a VASI for a crossing runway, causing severe damage to the wing strut (and knocking over the vasi). The guy got out, bent the strut back to close-to-straight, hand propped the plane himself, and took back off.
 
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I didn't break anything but I put a rental plane out of commission for the day.

It was early Sunday morning, I had a plane rented for 8-10am I think. I got there maybe 7:30-ish. Still gorggy. I preflight and I go to start it up. I didn't notice that the primer had an INOP sticker above it. So I twist and pull it out. I prime and when I try to push it back in, it's stuck out. That's when I noticed the sticker. Oooops.

I was always taught to never run an engine with the primer unlocked. Fuel will start seeping out and one CFI told me that if it were to come out in flight, the engine would stop. I don't know if that's true, but I wasn't going to find out.

Sunday nobody around, no mechanics till Monday. So I just packed up and left.
 
lol I love the Maintenance Bay section...come here every day!
 
I had my mechanic go and retrieve my plane after it had ignition problems. The conversation the next day went:

MECH: OK, what happened?
ME: The plane broke down at a Navion fly-in.
MECH: Yeah, it looked like committee work.

We had taken the ignition harness off another plane to see if it was the wiring rather than the mag (which it turned out to be a bad coil).
 
SkyDog58 said:
Yeah I could tell stories about pilots who broke things. I could also tell stories about fellow mechs who broke things.
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That would be good reading Go For It.
 
Tom-D said:
Nope, just in for lunch, I've been doing some thing for aviation all morning, how about you? or did you just set and wait for me to return here :)
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I've been waiting all morning for you Tom....:confused:
 
Insert 45 minute lecture from Bell helicopter tech rep.

It starts with using the wrong greasing needle which pushes the ball&spring of the zerk in so far they fall into the bearing.
 
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Tom, nothing against you or your skills, but I've seen many issues of A&P Induced Failures. It is very frustrating living in the sticks where there aren't a whole lot of A&P choices to begin with, and it is not uncommon to spend time cleaning up or troubleshooting work that was improperly performed by an FAA certificated mechanic. I don't think all A&Ps are buffoons and I hope most don't think that of owners either.
 
JohnAJohnson said:
Tom, nothing against you or your skills, but I've seen many issues of A&P Induced Failures. It is very frustrating living in the sticks where there aren't a whole lot of A&P choices to begin with, and it is not uncommon to spend time cleaning up or troubleshooting work that was improperly performed by an FAA certificated mechanic. I don't think all A&Ps are buffoons and I hope most don't think that of owners either.
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".... and some, I assume, are good people."
 
I don't understand why an A&P wouldn't fix something even if an owner broke it doing something stupid to cause it. Is it because in the future they might do something that the A&P might get blamed for?
 
JOhnH said:
I don't understand why an A&P wouldn't fix something even if an owner broke it doing something stupid to cause it. Is it because in the future they might do something that the A&P might get blamed for?
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Yes. We can't condone that behavior.
 
If the owner did mx that he wasn't allowed to do per the regs, I'd walk away. If he screwed up something that falls under preventive mx due to lack of skills or knowledge, I'd fix it for him and educate him on how to do it right ... once.
 
We have a turbine Lancair on the field right now that plowed through the dirt when the nose gear "wobbled really bad the collapsed as it ran off the runway."

Turns out the engine mount/nose gear mount had been cracked in the past and rewelded by the owner. It was welded in place rather than being removed and put in a jig. We suspect that caused the bearing holder to be spaced improperly which caused the nose gear to come loose.

Pretty expensive discrepancy.
 
I had this A&P named Tom D...can't remember his last name. Used the wrong muffler bearings and beacon fluid...never used him again.
 
CC268 said:
I had this A&P named Tom D...can't remember his last name. Used the wrong muffler bearings and beacon fluid...never used him again.
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:eek: why I be dern, there's a Tom D on POA, I wonder....
 
Timbeck2 said:
I once heard a story of a guy who put Nulites on his instruments and then wondered why the ball in the turn and bank indicator was never centered.
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Yeah I heard about that guy. Think he said he was a Wal Mart greeter....
 
No he said he aspired to be a Walmart greeter. He's a professional rodeo clown at the moment.
 
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