Complacency?

[Ben Longden]

I was at Bendigo Airport this afternoon.. well.. having dinner after work, and saw something that made my eyes wide open.

 

Its not in the incidents section, as this was more of a ?complacency issue..

 

The pilot of a Cessna 310 did a quick walk around the plane, and only examined the left engine nacelle, briefly putting his hand in the outer 'hole', before continuing to walk around.

 

Oils and fuel were not checked - no dips, no nothing.

 

Once he and the missus were in, the left engine was started, then immediately the right and almost as quickly the taxi process started.

 

When he stopped at the holding point, the mag check was not done. It was a case of stop, check the traffic and then backtrack. As soon as he turned it was full throttle, and when the AC was about 5m off the deck the gear was up, and then a 'bit' of sink when the flaps were retracted.

 

Am I missing something here?

 

Ben

 

 

[Matt]

Am I missing something here?

You're not missing a thing, but the person in question obviously is. It's that type of approach to flying that gets people killed, gives all pilots a bad reputation and unfortunately likely to take an innocent passenger (or multiple) along with them in the event of an incident.

 

Well done on picking this up and raising it here - it might just make someone think twice before they just jump in and tear off into the wild blue.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

 

[vk3auu]

You posted it in the wrong forum Ben, should have been the other one. (Perhaps you already did.)

 

David

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Yea, sure, the GA boys would love us picking holes in there practices hey..hehe... Ive seen heaps of that sort of thing go on...not long ago i saw a bloke rock up at maryburough strip between storm fronts and pile his mum in the back of a piper archer (or arrow) and blast off tailwind with no walkaround or runups or anything..i swear he even forgot the flaps untill halfway through his t/off roll..

 

 

[Guest brentc]

There might be a bit more to it though. How long was the aircraft sitting there for? Was it a cold start? Whilst this may be unrelated, as an example, with a Chieftain, before a charter flight what normally happens is the pilot heads out perhaps 20-30 minutes before the flight, runs up the engines, checks the turbo-chargers, feathers the props and checks the mags etc, taxii's it back to the loading area, loads passengers, then heads off without any more runups. It would not surprise me if what you saw was an already warm aircraft (hence why he put his hand onto the engine) and whilst taxiing and or back-tracking the runway, he probably performed a mag check.

 

If it was the first start of the day, then that is a different story.

 

Not sticking up for him, just thinking of possible reasons.

 

 

[Guest airsick]

There is no need to dip the tanks unless it is the first run for the day or he has just refuelled. I make a habit of doing it anyway but it is not a requirement.

 

As for picking on the GA boys (which includes me) why not? Cowboys are not limited to RA or GA, they can be found in both areas. Highlighting the inadequacies of a pilot from either group can only serve to help anyone who is willing to listen and learn from others.

 

But I agree, in my books it does seem as though this guy was a bit gung ho.

 

 

[Yenn]

It may be OK to point out stupid tricks of GA pilots, but if you want to impress on them how competent ultralight pilots are, that way will not work in my opinion.

 

When you accuse someone of doing something stupid, their first thought is to rubbish you.

 

Try a more subtle approach, unless you are like me and don't know how to be subtle, but i tell you it can be lonely without friends.

 

 

[Ben Longden]

I'm not picking on anyone, or making ridicule either...

 

(Old story about living in glass houses comes to mind)

 

Just wanting to know if I had missed anything... after all, I want to improve my skills.

 

Ben