Nr Fairy,
I apologize to Steve for pointing the finger at him in that manner. Likewise I believe the two engineers involved should receive an apology from other contributors to this string for their comments and assumptions. If Steve had been the beneficiary of Agusta’s factory ground school training an apology would not be forthcoming. There was an opportunity to prevent this incident but unfortunately that opportunity was lost. That opportunity would not have been lost if adequate training was afforded all involved. Pilot training consumes the lion’s share of most aviation company training budgets. If your company can not afford to send all pilots and engineers to the factory for training then it should make sure the staff that does receive factory training have the capacity to pass that information on to all others.
The fact that this problem has occurred tree times now points to an underlying systemic insufficiency. Steve and the two engineers have been seriously let down by their company.
I have no way of knowing what the underlying factors are. But I would be happy to speculate.
Maybe the person that did the actual hands on work was not licensed or properly trained.
Maybe the person certifying for the work was not able to adequately supervise all in his charge.
We know the pilot did not receive factory training.
Maybe the check and training person did not receive adequate training either.
In answer to your questions:
1. The Maintenance Manual and the Illustrated Parts breakdown have always shown the correct orientation of these parts. If you have access to these publications I would be happy to provide you with the figure references. Otherwise I can e-mail you a scanned copy of these pages. There is also an Agusta information letter on the subject. This problem and the previous incidents are well documented. You might even find some internal company documentation.
2. I am not in a position to provide you with accurate information as to when or if Agusta amended its course syllabus. However I can assure you that I was made very aware of this issue when I received my training three years ago.
3. There are several critical parts on the A109 and most other aircraft that can easily be fitted incorrectly. If you can be bothered to answer my questions I will be happy to make some time and list them for you. How sweet it must be to think aircraft engineering on helicopters is so simple that they will only go together one way. You really have no clue do you!
Now, if you or somebody else would like to take the time and answer my questions I would appreciate it.
1. Have the engineers involved been factory trained?
2. Do you have a ladder available for your pre-flight inspection?
3. Is there a culture that prevents a pilot taking the time to carry out a thorough pre-flight inspection?
4. Some training must be happening! Are the right people receiving training or is training reserved for the Chief Engineer’s favourites and not the people that need it.
5. Are there contributing human factors?
To simply point the finger at the two engineers is a serious cop out. If this is the full extent of how you address this issue you are doomed to repeat this incident.
It is not overly dramatic to say your life depends on adequate engineering training. I would start to take an interest if I were you.