Quote:
You find that in the official report into the accident, (page 14), they state "Right engine—With the exception of the propeller governor, no pre-existing abnormalities were found."
Yet you receive an interesting package of documents from BASI in early 1997, containing numerous revealing facts.
• Of the 28 left engine spark plugs, once they were cleaned and even regapped, five did either not fire or were found to be electrically breaking down.
• Only twenty-five spark plugs were recovered from the right engine (which had been immersed in salt water for two months). They were also cleaned, re-gapped and then tested and of these eleven were considered unserviceable for the same reasons.
• Of the fifty-six spark plugs, only 26 were deemed to be of the approved type of plug.
A 100 hourly maintenance inspection was (supposedly) carried out about 4 hours prior to the accident. Even BASI expressed concern at the condition of the spark plugs considering the recent 100 hourly.
Geez, could that be a reason the right engine (which should have kept you airborne) was not producing rated power.
I'm curious why excessive mag drops weren't detected on engine run-ups by the ground and air crews if that many spark plugs were in poor condition.