AIN on Avantair

[BeenThereDoneIt]

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?

Waco...if you don't want the pay raise I offered you as a cabinet maker.....how about this one?

(Year 5) New York Garbage Man $67,141
(Year 5) Avantair FO $43,000

Yes.......Year 5 FO's will now be a reality at Avantair. Many are already in year 3....at $43,000

 

[wacoflyr]

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.

 

[HazMat]

It's not worth argueing with been there lied about it. This is the guy who got busted posting to himself using another username and then deleting the post and tried to claim there was a technical issue with flightinfo. So we know him to be a liar. The guy is a disgruntled former employee who gets some weird satisfaction posting lie after lie about his former employer. I guess he is angry he isn't still here and wants to exact some sort of revenge. I say we stop engaging him just don't respond to his posts. Maybe he will find something else to do with his life.

By the way before he did exactly what we expected this thread was created to show some positive news about hiring but that was 5 pages ago

 

[BeenThereDoneIt]

Waco...let me simplify it since my wording confused you. We took off with the oil pressure barely in the green....which is safe and legal. The few days prior I had noticed it in the lower green arc each day, and it was trending worse each day even though it was still legal. I checked the flight log to see how it had been trending with the crew prior to us. The trend was down. Maintenance said keep flying it.

On the day where I took the picture and video, we took off "barely" in the green. At a point during cruise the needle finally crept into the yellow. I don't have the EMERGENCY Checklist in front of me but I think it says to bring the props back to 1100 RPM (I typo-ed 1700 above). It does NOT say to land the aircraft immediately. Thus, we didn't. Maintenance was informed about the situation when we landed. As the oil gets hot, it gets thinner. You should know this by now. That would cause the oil pressure to slip into the yellow after operating a while. The company asked us to keep flying the plane. I never said we did or we didn't. You made that part up on your own. I "simply" said that we were asked to keep flying. You can fill in the story any way you want to.

On another flight into SUS we landed with a broken #1 Gyro. It was already dark and we were supposed to be getting fuel and continue on to TEB. The broken Gyro not only gave us irroneous "greasy side down" info, but it disabled the altitude hold function of the autopilot, which keeps us from flying into RVSM airspace. The company was informed, yet they asked us to continue the flight into TEB with the broken Captains Gyro, under RVSM airspace. The Captain mentioned it to me and I refused, just as he did. Bottom line....your company asked us to fly another illegal plane. The funny thing is, while we were going back and forth with the company about it, the passengers called FLOPS or FLEX (I forget which one) and had a jet come pick them up. Never have I said anyone flew illegal. You keep making that part up, just like you keep making up that you are making a profit. I have said that your company askes pilots on a regular basis to fly broken, illegal planes.

Trust me bro.......I am glad I am gone too! Peace.

 

[HazMat]

I am an 80's music fan love that song lies, lies, lies ya.

 

[wacoflyr]

He's gone. We wished him well and he wished us ill. No matter what he types, the best truth is that he is simply gone. I hope my next tour is east coast. See you at kteb!

 

[gutshotdraw]

Can ya'll wait while I cook up another batch of popcorn?

BTW Hazmat, Thompson Twins, right?

 

[BeenThereDoneIt]

A picture is worth a thousand words....LOL. That's why I took it. I had never met a pilot who had actually filed a NASA report until I got to Avantair. Glass....how many have you filed since joining the company? And silence fills the room....LOLOLOLOL

 

[hangarrat]

Dear Mat,

I am not a FLOPS pilot. I worked for a Frac for a year but moved on to greener ($$$) pastures. I still fly so I have an ongoing keen interest in what happens in the Pilot World. I personally supported the union drive you guys put forth. Without a union contract we all would be stuck in the right seat at year 3 making $42,000 (no offense Waco). I understand the need for a Contract with FLOPS. That being said.....

....you came onto this board with a very decent post, asking people to keep the discussion in-house (although I disagree with you on that). You seemed very professional and I detected a lot of sincerity in your words. THEN...you didn't shut up. You proceeded to post several more times, taking pot shots at, and making personal attacks on those who didn't agree with you. I don't care who shot first......you are in a position of leadership and that negates your right as a professional do retaliate. THEN.....you posted THIS THREAT to your fellow union members.....

I will promise you one thing. We will find out who you are (we always do). And when we do, I will personally insure all of our members know who you are and what you have done to work against their best interests.

Mat.....threatening your fellow union members was the most irresponsible and unprofessional thing I have seen in years. While I hope you guys do eventually find common ground and vote to ratify a decent Contract, I suspect this type of threat from a Union Boss might be the downfall of things of a while. Perhaps you can apologize to these guys for your "Mobster Threat" and they will forgive you, but I personally could never rally behind such a leader. Again, good luck to all of you guys. Your vote affects all of us who fly. Peace.

Kyle Bryant (no anons here, dude)

I asked around, you never worked for a real aviation company before u entered fractional. you have been an instructor all your life. while ur total time was high enough to meet mins, your turbine time was extremely low(was it paddded?), one person told me if it wasnt for ur type rating u would not have even been interviewed. u got the job due to the good economy creating pilot shortages. isnt it ironic that u didnt get a chance to upgrade because of an economic downturn.

u couldnt handle fractional, u hate aviation but for some reason ur stuck in it.

now you are a ground instructor again. thats not going to help ur resume in the future, its a downward move and even if u tell every one it was for the pay it will be questioned by every aviation company u try to get a job with.

on the upside, it should be easy for u cause u know all the answers and u dont have to make any of hard calls now. u dont have to answer to owners, passengers, maintenance or management. just to ur wife.

aviation is a small community and ur making a lot of friends

 

[BeenThereDoneIt]

Yawn........