Rotten start to a sweet advanture

Don Jones

Line Up and Wait
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Rotten start to a sweet adventure

The wife and I recently spent 7 days in Maui. Had a blast while there, however the trip over was a disaster. We caught our flight in El Paso going to Phoenix where we were to catch the connecting direct flight to Maui and that's where the trouble began. We boarded the flight only to sit on the ramp for 45 minutes after the scheduled departure waiting for "the over-water inspection paperwork to be signed off". They finally close the door and off we go, life is good. Roughly 3-4 hours later while naping in my seat, the pilot comes on and says we have turned around for the coast of California and have decended down to 9000 feet due to a leak in the flight crew's oxygen system. Uggg, 2 hours back to LAX,(not enough fuel to make Maui at 10000 ft) on the ground there for about 3 hours, some of which was delays on the ramp again waiting on paperwork to be signed off, then 6 hours getting to Maui. Over 12 hours late arriving. Not the way to start a vacation. We did have a blast while there, so all was well and the flight home was no problem at all. We were scheduled to rent a plane and fly on Wednesday, but I scrubbed that after preflight on the plane(absolute junk, with so much corrosion I could not believe it). I did write a scathing letter to the airline for what good it will do.
 
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We were scheduled to rent a plane and fly on Wednesday, but I scrubbed that after preflight on the plane(absolute junk, with so much corrosion I could not believe it). I did write a scathing letter to the airline for what good it will do.

I'd be writing a scathing letter to the FBO who was renting the junk plane too! :(
 
Re: Rotten start to a sweet adventure

I'd be writing a scathing letter to the FBO who was renting the junk plane too! :(

I really should do that as well. First off they played switch on the plane I had reserved(which wasn't much better) and stuck me with this junker. There were patches of corosion coming out from under the overlaps in the wing skins, directly over the spar, well all over it really, in large (like 8"x8") areas. The steel cylinder fins on the engine were paper thin and could easily be broken off by just touching them. I had to wonder what the inside of the wing looked like, especially the spars. It gave me the chills
 
Re: Rotten start to a sweet adventure

I really should do that as well. First off they played switch on the plane I had reserved(which wasn't much better) and stuck me with this junker. There were patches of corosion coming out from under the overlaps in the wing skins, directly over the spar, well all over it really, in large (like 8"x8") areas. The steel cylinder fins on the engine were paper thin and could easily be broken off by just touching them. I had to wonder what the inside of the wing looked like, especially the spars. It gave me the chills
What kind of plane was it?
 
Re: Rotten start to a sweet adventure

Piper Archer, which has the wing spar AD for corrosion. :hairraise:
Cripes, most Pipers weren't zinc chromated or anything at the factory, so you'd think anyone operating one in, oh, HAWAII would drench them in Corrosion X or something.
 
Don, was this with Maui Aviators? I rented from them about 5 years ago and the planes were in good mechanical condition.
 
Yes it was, they are still the only game in town. I read good things about them, but I was not impressed.

I flew one of their C-172s 3 years ago. Not the best 172 I've flown, but far from the worst (that 'honor' would go to one I flew out of HNL a while earlier). Sorry you had a problem with them.

Isn't Maui beautiful? It's our favorite island in Hawaii.
 
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