Red snail;
Reminds me of a weird snag taxying out on the DC10 to somewhere a long way away when I selected take off slats/flaps and I got an amber caution even though they were correctly extended. I recycled but whilst it extinguished it came back on. The flight engineer was a Pilot doing a short stint before we got our MD11s whilst the regular genii where being trained up as pilots which meant two things..their technical knowledge wasn’t as comprehensive and they were junior officers in the military against the captain who was a colonel or something similar.
The captain was one of those go minded as they briefed and after trying different tacks I ended up stating I would stand on the brakes if he tried to go.
We returned twice to the gate and after a good couple of hours of engineers swarming over the aircraft they discovered a connection on the rear of the circuit breaker which had been arcing and could have had nasty consequences. I learnt a lesson a long time ago after my best mate died because of a bully.
Had another one in Moscow where one engine wouldn’t rotate, procedure start another, remove starter, fix blanking plate start original engine and go which needed a refuelling as well. First go on rickety stairs which sleet falling failed ..thought we had mixed up starter motors..so after three goes we went to the hotel until another aircraft was flown out with several starter motors and the bit that hadn’t been fitted when the engine had been overhauled the day before.
yes off the thread and old f@rts tales..but there are often unknowns and there was a reason that dispatchers had conspicuous red caps.