Suspicious screwdriver found in plane wreckage

[Admin]

In the Aircraft Pilots Media Section:

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/suspicious-screwdriver-found-in-plane-wreckage.34224/

 

 

[fatmal]

Easily done - I (accidentally) left a screwdriver under the floor - I now check more thoroughly. Rudder cables and elevator control runs under the baggage area floor of the Allegro, but I got lucky - only experienced a rattle. The screwdriver was long enough to arc across the battery terminals, but they're recessed, so, in theory, no opportunity for arcing across the terminals - I don't know what effect that would have, but the battery is uncomfortably close to the fuel tank!

 

The crew in this accident are both medico's, so would be familiar with the concept of counting tools in and out, but of course, they wouldn't have performed the maintenance on a GA registered aircraft.

 

Perhaps we shouldn't use our messy toolboxes (well I know mine is!), but a shadow board instead - if anything is missing post maintenance, then it's time to go looking!

 

Mal

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

all tools have to be engraved now and tool count out and count back methods are used as well.

 

 

[dazza 38]

The Military have used composite took kits for along as I can remember, they where used when I first joined in 1988.IE- Shadow Board, and the Tag system. Each time a tool is removed from the tool box, the person places one of their tags in its place. Every techo has their own tags with a specific number printed on the tag. Its a no brainer realy. Any aircraft that was worked on with tools from the tool kit.Does not fly until all the tools are accounted for from that took kit.

 

The reason of the tag system with numbers, is that when the tool board is cleared and there is a tool missing, no problem check the number on the tag against the technician assigned to that number.Ask them where is the tool? If he/she does not know.This normally happened on a friday afternoon BTW. Everybody had to stay back after shift and look for the tool.Sometimes panels had to be removed from the jet for inspection to find the tool.

 

There has been some classics.Normally the took eg- a small socket would be found in their pocket or similar.

 

There was a 6 SQN F111 that flew from Amberley to Tindal.It took off before the took kit was cleared.Anyway a queer trader left a srewdriver in the cockpit, ended up under one of the seats.The air crew found it after they landed.

 

 

[Wayne T Mathews]

Tools being left in aircraft has been a problem since Charlie Taylor started working on the Wright Flyer. A bloke I knew left a brand new pair of insulated pliers in the wing of B727. The aircraft had left to go to New Zealand before he realized his mistake. He didn't say anything to anyone, he just came to work early next morning, knowing the aircraft would be back from NZ and he'd go and open the panel on the quiet and get his pliers back. Trouble was though, when he opened the panel and reached in to get his pliers, he found some Kiwi had already removed them. But the Kiwi was obviously a gentleman with a keen sense of justice, for he'd replaced the new pliers with the grottiest pair my mate and I had ever seen.

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Back in the day when I worked on Blackburn Beverleys, I had to help out with a radio mod(I was a radar mech). Part of this mod necessitated crawling out through the wing until I was behind the engine and then change the radio connector which the Flight Engineer would use to stay in touch with the pilot whist investigating whatever he had to. Anyway, in that same crawl-way were all the aileron control tubes. One plane, after being modified, was put back on line and eventually took off in it's next trip and having reached about 400ft, the pilot tried to turn left to avoid some hills but found his ailerons jammed. Fortunately he was able go right which bought him very close to the hill side but as he was empty, he managed to clear the high ground, go round and land.

 

Investigation found a screw driver jammed in the aileron control rods and all personnel who had worked on the plane had their personal tool kits impounded and we were confined to a sealed room.

 

To say the least, I was shi...g bricks.

 

Each tool kit was checked by the investigating officer and, believe it or not, every one of us had a complete set of tools. Were we relived! It transpires that the offending screw driver had been in there since the aircraft was built.

 

By the time I had retrained to work on fighters, the centralised/tag system was in use and if, at the end of a shift, the shadow bourd showed a missing tool, the whole shift stayed until it was found, even if that meant an engine removal.

 

Oh happy days.

 

 

[djpacro]

I recall a FOD screen behind the seat developed to catch errant screwdrivers etc after the similar Yak accident in the UK.

 

There was no ATSB report of Barry Hempel's accident in his Yak a few years ago - screwdriver, blackout or ?

 

There was a 6 SQN F111 .....a queer trader left a srewdriver in the cockpit, ended up under one of the seats.The air crew found it after they landed.

Would require an amendment to the crew module W&B too.

 

[dunlopdangler]

I'm anal retentive about FOD when I fly the Yak and make any one silly enough to hop in the back empty their pockets prior to getting in. the cables that run down to the tail don't have much clearance and even a errant biro cap could cause a lot of grief. part of the preflight I do is to hit along the bottom of the fuselage and if anything rattles.....we don't go anywhere until we are satisfied that there is nothing there.. very sad to think that the crash in NZ was caused by something like this..

 

 

[Mazda]

I knew two people on board a Yak which nearly suffered a similar fate. They had pulled out of a loop and the elevator jammed slightly nose up. They managed to land at a nearby airport with no elevator control - it was pure luck that it jammed in a position which left the aircraft flyable.

 

The cause? A fuel drain in the tail. The pilot had done a fuel drain with the one in the aeroplane and secured it. It seems that someone in the past couldn't find the fuel drain so put a new one in the aircraft.

 

If you can't find the fuel drain, be very wary about flying.