Yeah......the one on the left is oil pressure in the yellow. We were asked to fly a few more days like that before we could take it into maintenance. I have video too....LOL
We took off and it was BARELY in the green. In cruise it dropped into the yellow, as the picture dictates. The company asked us to keep flying it even though the checklist says to retard the props to 1700 RPM (If I recall correctly). Obviouisly we aren't supposed to take off in that condition...right boys?
He's got the proper response wrong, but he's been out of the plane for more than a year, so you have to cut him some slack on that one.
His statements though are very clear. "we were asked to fly for a few more days like that" implies that they did, in fact take off with this condition. And yet, he even says himself "
Obviouisly(spelling!) we aren't supposed to take off in that condition... right boys?"
That's right. Who would trust a flight instructor with judgement as flawed as this?
Still, I believe he's telling a lie. The captain,
obviously, would have had to agree to what is clearly a violation of the FAR's, as well as with putting everybody's lives in danger. Furthermore, the extremely expensive engine would probably be damaged. Avantair is careful with money. Why would they ask a crew to risk ruining a PT6, or risk the lives of our extremely valuable customers? Many of our customers are pilots. I bet almost all of them know a gauge in the yellow is not good, and we don't have a door. This is obvious to everybody, including management, who are mostly pilots themselves. I mean, come on.
I have carried maintenance here, but never anything dangerous. If it can't be deferred, we write it up. EXAMPLE: During first flight of the day items, I discovered a dead roll servo. The plane was written up, and we sat for two days in the middle of Missouri while they fixed it. On another occasion, we flew with a broken door cable for a day until we could get it into our base. A mechanic came and removed the cable. There are two door cables, and we put a utility box under the door at each stop. This was not ideal, but safe and legal in accordance with the MEL. In my almost two years here, this is how things are done. As a copilot, I would not tolerate any other method, and I have not been asked to.
If, however, he is telling the truth, then I am truly glad he is gone. I wouldn't want him flying our passengers around like that, and I would not care to get on an airplane that he has treated in this manner. He was senior to me, and if he had managed to pass an upgrade I might have been paired with him. I might have been forced to refuse to fly with him had he decided to fly an unsafe plane. Either way, we are better off without crew like him. I just can't understand why he was ever hired here in the first place. We all make mistakes.
