It Flew In, It’ll Fly Out
You may have heard the phrase, “It flew in, it’ll fly out” on the hangar floor before. I have heard it several times, usually in jest when a major defect was found during aircraft inspection.
But a New Zealand pilot took this phrase to a whole new level. The New Zealand Herald reported today that a pilot was fined $10,000 after putting a cracked component back on a plane. The pilot, Paul Ensor, is the owner of Island Air Charters. Last July, an aircraft engineer (mechanic) was inspecting the company’s Cessna 210 when he found a crack on the nose landing gear. The gear was sent off for repair, but the engineer working on the gear could not repair it and sent the defective part back to Island Air Charters.
When the gear arrived back at the facility, Ensor (who is not an engineer) decided that the landing gear was not damaged and put the landing gear back on the aircraft himself, flying the aircraft 18 times and carrying 80 passengers with the cracked gear.
The CAA suspended Ensor’s pilot’s certificate. The court sentenced him to a maximum 12 months prison or $10,000. The court also ordered that he not fly for 6 months.
They say that the person that represents himself in a court of law has an idiot for an attorney. I guess this pilot, who performed his own maintenance, has an idiot for a mechanic.
You can read the full story here.
Thanks for reading.
Sounds like someone didn’t get paid.
Typical pilot-owned small operation. This person should have had his license REVOKED for recklessly endangering his passengers. If it were a mechanic who reinstalled the cracked part, you can bet that’s what would have happened. I’m sure that the only reason he didn’t use the mechanic who removed the part was that he felt his fees were too high. “If you think maintenance is too expensive, try no maintenance.”
Wow, incredibly bad decision making. Bottom line is, he got caught. How much of this do you think goes on every day that doesn’t get caught? Good thing this guy is not a Senator…
That’s what happens when the profits are the main concern for the company/owner. Seen it before.
The scary bit here is that the guy actually carried pax (presumebly for hire and reward), other than endangering the lives of people on the ground (at an airstrip/ airport). How I wish for such examples to be published on a weekly basis, in all countries of occurrence. Australia
Typical, probably thought the engineer was just replacing the part to boost his profit. how many times do you see it??? Can’t afford a $700.00 part they realy need but can buy a new $1400.00 headset because they want it!!!
What about the Engineer’s responsibility? If it’s not repairable he should of mutilated it. If I sign it scrap and the customer wants it back. He gets it back mutilated. Zero liability. Never trust a pilot. Always mutilate. Read Order 8120.11.