Originally Posted by
Sir HC
It's far easier to claim that the load inadvertently released due to some aircraft issue than to admit that you pressed the cargo release hook when you intended to make a radio call instead. Make an entry in the logbook, the engineers then have to take a good look, they usually find something that's chafing or corroded or something to pin the blame on and bam, there's your silver bullet. Meanwhile, that pilot learns a great lesson and either flies with the cargo hook breaker pulled, or simply doesn't make radio calls while carrying a load. Occams razor should be employed in more of these accident reports.
Don’t think Onboard would make the hydraulic option if it was as easy as the dumb pilots fault as you seem to advocate.
I know of a few cases where the load was not even off the ground when the hook opened. Cables were excessively corroded in those cases and obviously changed.
There was an article about an operator in either Canada or Alaska which made the change to their fleet a few years back due to the problem, but I can’t recall the operator. After they changed, the problem went away. Must have been a coincidence, as I’m sure they just started to pull the breaker (GREAT advice btw) and stay silent on the radio all of a sudden…
Finger trouble of course happen as well, but it is just too easy to conclude like you do. There is a reason for the OP is specifically asking about cases with the B3’s and cargo swing. I ‘m sure pilots flying the other models have the same finger trouble as B3 pilots.