Pbi Incident?????????

[SpoilerFault]

Hey guys/gals, as an mechanic I'm sorry to hear you experience so many problems on functional flights. I work for a 121 carrier and fly with the crews on test flights almost weekly and am fortunate to say they're always uneventful. I sounds like there is alot of poor maint. being done out there. That's not suprising really when you look at the state of aviation these days. Companies don't want to attract and retain the best technicians, they only care about "sign it off and get it out of here". I just hope this trend will turn around without lives being lost............Fly safe.

 

[old*art]

I was witness to an episode with a Lear that was an eyeopener for me. A test hop was required on a Lear 35 which had just been repainted with the paint shop applying a thin bead of caulk along the leading edge of the paint just behind the silver leading edge. The Lear test pilot said he would fly it, but the caulk would have to come off when he returned. According to a friend of mine who was flying right seat, the Lear stalled 12 knots early and broke to the right. They returned, the caulk was removed, a spoileron adjusted, and on the next flight the Lear stalled right on the numbers and dropped gently straight thru. Made a real believer out of me about wing contamination after that. The bead of caulk could not have been as large as a pencil lead - I would never have believed it would have had that effect.