List, When I bought my 415C the annual was signed off and it was "ready to come pick it up." Bull____! Everything that could possibly leak was leaking, and what really chapped my hide was that when I checked the flight controls they were rigged backward. Actually cross-controlled. The ailerons went left, the rudder went right.
I griped about it an the owner had it fixed- I think what happened in my case is that the former owner did some of his own maintenance AFTER the annual was signed off. That really puts the IA in a bad light. As some of you guys know I am an A &P, and IA- I also teach at an A & P school and to top that off I am also the Designated Mechanic's Examiner for our school. My 2 biggest and most personal warnings to my students is that they better NEVER miss-rig an airplane's flight controls, or it's engine controls. During the oral and practical test I make every applicant for an airframe rating demonstrate that they THOROUGHLY understand what each flight control surface is supposed to do when moved in the appropriate direction. I dont know what happened with this guy- but the FARs do state that a mechanic will not perform maintenance on any airplane unless he first understands the manufacturer's maintenance instructions. I didnt get the FEDs involved in my situation, but I sure hope you scared the heck out of this guy and let him know what he did- or else he'll do it again. Way to go Bob on getting your A&P soon Jan Zanutto Fresno, CA 415G (in progress) On Sun, 23 Jul 2000 17:54:05 -0700 Bob Ellis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hello everyone, > > Just picked up my Coupe from it's "Annual and Major". I purchased > this > coupe last week and hadn't flown it due to it having (supposedly) > "Everything" done to it. I was told yesterday that it was completed > and I > could come and get it. When I arrived the mechanic told me that he > was > completed and had a couple last minute things to enter into the logs > nad the > IA would stamp his seal of approval. We did just that and I went out > and > performed a run-up. The mags were hot and I didn't get any RPM drop > on > either mag (or off!). When I brought it up to the mechanic we > decided that > there was probably a grounding problem with the switch (the only > place the > the mags come together to a single point). After he told me that I > would > have to wait another week before he could get to it, I decided to > just take > it home (45 minutes) and I could fix it there. > Anyway, I was hauling butt down the runway and lifted the plane > off the > ground. Just as I lifted off, there was an incredible left rolling > tendency! > Really caught me off guard. I had to keep the yoke 90 degrees to the > right > just to keep the plane level. I found it to be very sluggish and > cautiously > and slowly climbed to altitude. I figured that if I was gonna wipe > myself > out on any runway, it might as well be my own, so I flew it home. As > I was > coming in on final, I was pretty concerned about the nose wheel > position on > touchdown (turned severely right). Well I touched down on the mains > and bled > off the airspeed and settled the nose just fine. > So today I went back out to take a look at it and I found that one > of the > mags was dead and the other was grossly out of time and the switch > was wired > incorrectly, thus giving me a false indication that both were hot. > I called the mechanic about the rolling tendency. He said that he > was > wondering why the right aileron was set a little differently than > the left > (Torque rod adjustment) He said that he just reset them to 55 year > old > tolerances! I figure that if someone just flew the damn thing in, > I'd fly it > to see if it needs any adjustment rather than just assuming it does > and > changing it. At least questioning the person who flew it before > adjusting > the flight control surfaces might have been a good idea (It was that > way for > a reason). > I can't believe and can't understand why the dead mag, timing > error and > switch problem. There are obviously some QA/QC problems there and I > am not > sure how I am gonna approach that due to the fact that the seller > had it in > the shop for an annual when I first inquired about it and he paid > for the > whole thing. > It really is a great plane and I am extremely happy to own it, > these are > just some adjustments and I will have them taken care of in no time. > The > trouble I am having is that I guess I just can't trust anyone! I am > going to > get my A&P soon so that I will rely on no one else to assure me that > my > children will be safe based on the quality of work performed on my > aircraft. > Please be careful. > > Just tryin to get some altitude! > > Bob > ________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at > http://www.hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________________ _______ > To unsubscribe from this list please send > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ___________________________________________________________ > T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 > Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
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