A short storyabout the key to a problem

[Centaurus]

The Key to the problem – a short story.

Once upon a time I had a pleasant job flying a 737 around the South Pacific. With little notice, several of us were suddenly retrenched. Now out of work I was driving Melbourne taxis before managing to snag a job flying a pressurised Cessna 425 Conquest. It belonged to the owner of a large department store in the heart of Melbourne. His family would often to travel to their holiday property in northern NSW.

They were concerned their current pilot was approaching age 60 and decided someone younger was needed. I was 54, so according to them I had a few more years under my belt. Having previously spent several years with the RAAF VIP Squadron in Canberra helped my application. Their current pilot, a well known identity in the Melbourne general aviation scene, had flown them around for many years. He knew the frequency and position of most of the navaids between NSW and Melbourne and scorned the use of map. He checked me out on the company Cessna Conquest; a sweet aircraft to fly.

One fine day I picked up the wealthy owner and his wife from the airstrip at their property in NSW to fly to Melbourne via Sydney, where another family member was waiting. I always carried a full set of radio navigation charts of course and frequently referred to the required charts between their property and Sydney. That included Sydney Terminal charts. The Cessna Conquest had a nose compartment where luggage, chocks, spare hydraulic oil etc were stowed. During endorsement training I queried the absence of tie down nets in the nose compartment and was told they were not needed. I wasn’t too happy about this but didn’t want to make waves after only one flight. I needed the job

.After landing at Sydney to pick up the family member, I stowed her bags in the nose compartment, closing and securing the compartment door via its over-centre locking handles. I recall giving the door a final firm pat with my hand to ensure it was properly secure.The flight to Essendon was in fine weather and Essendon duty runway was 26 via Plenty locator. We were passing 1000 feet above ground level on short final when the nose compartment door suddenly sprung wide open to the vertical position. The immediate danger was unsecured objects in the nose compartment falling out and into the port propeller disc. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise the potential for severe airframe damage as well as danger to life and limb in the suburbs below.

I quickly feathered the port engine propeller, nudged up the power on the remaining engine and maintained the glide path until touch down. I don’t think the passengers were aware of anything unusual until clear of the runway when I advised ATC, shut down the live engine and after explaining to the passengers the cause of the problem I shut the nose compartment door. It closed normally and I couldn’t understand what may have caused it to fly open at such a late stage of the flight. After re-starting both engines, it was just a case of taxiing to the tarmac where the family limousine awaited.

The owner of the well known Melbourne department store was not happy and I lost my job. The previous pilot was re-hired. I thought I hadn’t done a bad job and was taken aback when the previous pilot told me the family were scared when I feathered the propeller on short final without briefing them first. There was no time for that, of course, as we were so close to touchdown. Secondly, they thought I was lost on our trip from northern NSW to Sydney because I had a map on my lap all the way. Their previous pilot knew his way by heart and didn’t need a map. Someone told me later that pressurisation changes can sometimes cause slight fuselage warping and nose compartment doors have been known to spring open. The previous pilot did not mention that it is wise to use the small locking key as a back up to the front compartment over-centre locks. I wish I had known about that beforehand because that was obviously the key to the problem in more ways than one.