Taking a stand
When it comes to planes there is flyable broke (MEL) and there is grounded broke (broke, broke). MEL broke is tolerable depending on what is not working. Grounded broke is bad. On my latest flight this week I ran into problems with a grounded broke issue and had to take a stand against flying the plane.
On our Lears, as with all jet aircraft, we have a Yaw Damper. When the Y.D is on, it automatically controls the rudder to prevent Dutch Rolling. Without getting into a discussion about aerodynamics, a Dutch Roll is where the plane wants to rock back and forth without any inputs from the pilots. At high speeds planes have a tendency to do this if you make a turn. The Y.D basically keeps the passengers from getting motion sickness. On this particular flight the Y.D had a mind of its own. Several times the rudder made un-commanded movements and yawed the plane slightly to the right causing the plane to start rocking. Anytime you have a control surface move without you manually doing it or you telling autopilot to make the input, you have a problem. We were on our way from the Mexican border enroute to a fuel stop in LA for our eventual destination of our base in the North when the anomaly occurred. Normally if something out of the ordinary occurs in flight, if it only happens once we can chalk it up to aircraft gremlins, but if it happens twice or more, you have a problem. During climb out the rudder made its first un-commanded movement. Granted it was not a hard movement, but it was very noticeable. The captain and I both chalked that up to a gremlin. Several minuets later it did it again. This is where I had to take a stand.
After the second occurrence, I considered the Y.D to be a problem. The captain did not see it my way. He wanted to continue the trip to our fuel stop and then on up to our base in the North. I told him that any un-commanded control movement like this is a big deal and we should ground the plane. He saw it as an inconvenience and we should just ignore it and we’ll write it up when we get to our base in the North. Then it happened again. That galvanized my position that the flight should be discontinued and we should divert to the nearest suitable airport which happened to be our base in the south. The captain wanted to continue to our fuel stop and we’d talk about the situation then. That’s when I told him that there was no way I was going to continue the trip with the rudder making un-commanded movements. He can continue to our fuel stop and ground the plane or we can go to our base and ground the plane, but either way, I refuse to fly the plane any further in its present condition. Needless to say he was not very pleased with me, but safety of flight comes first before finishing the trip so he could get home. So we diverted to our base in the south. It happened to be closer to our present position and in perfect range for a normal descent from our cruising alt of FL410. In some miracle of modern technology I managed to pick up the ILS about 90 miles out and flew it all the way in to the airport for an uneventful landing.
I really hate having to cancel trips and down aircraft especially when we have freight on board, but when it’s an issue of being grounded broke, it really isn’t a hard call to make.
On our Lears, as with all jet aircraft, we have a Yaw Damper. When the Y.D is on, it automatically controls the rudder to prevent Dutch Rolling. Without getting into a discussion about aerodynamics, a Dutch Roll is where the plane wants to rock back and forth without any inputs from the pilots. At high speeds planes have a tendency to do this if you make a turn. The Y.D basically keeps the passengers from getting motion sickness. On this particular flight the Y.D had a mind of its own. Several times the rudder made un-commanded movements and yawed the plane slightly to the right causing the plane to start rocking. Anytime you have a control surface move without you manually doing it or you telling autopilot to make the input, you have a problem. We were on our way from the Mexican border enroute to a fuel stop in LA for our eventual destination of our base in the North when the anomaly occurred. Normally if something out of the ordinary occurs in flight, if it only happens once we can chalk it up to aircraft gremlins, but if it happens twice or more, you have a problem. During climb out the rudder made its first un-commanded movement. Granted it was not a hard movement, but it was very noticeable. The captain and I both chalked that up to a gremlin. Several minuets later it did it again. This is where I had to take a stand.
After the second occurrence, I considered the Y.D to be a problem. The captain did not see it my way. He wanted to continue the trip to our fuel stop and then on up to our base in the North. I told him that any un-commanded control movement like this is a big deal and we should ground the plane. He saw it as an inconvenience and we should just ignore it and we’ll write it up when we get to our base in the North. Then it happened again. That galvanized my position that the flight should be discontinued and we should divert to the nearest suitable airport which happened to be our base in the south. The captain wanted to continue to our fuel stop and we’d talk about the situation then. That’s when I told him that there was no way I was going to continue the trip with the rudder making un-commanded movements. He can continue to our fuel stop and ground the plane or we can go to our base and ground the plane, but either way, I refuse to fly the plane any further in its present condition. Needless to say he was not very pleased with me, but safety of flight comes first before finishing the trip so he could get home. So we diverted to our base in the south. It happened to be closer to our present position and in perfect range for a normal descent from our cruising alt of FL410. In some miracle of modern technology I managed to pick up the ILS about 90 miles out and flew it all the way in to the airport for an uneventful landing.
I really hate having to cancel trips and down aircraft especially when we have freight on board, but when it’s an issue of being grounded broke, it really isn’t a hard call to make.
posted by Windsor at 2:57 PM
2 Comments:
You did the right thing.
The chief pilot and I had some words about this captain after this flight.
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