A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....
This is what happens when somebody who thinks he knows what we do chips in with his 2c. The problem is when he is in a position to make ones life difficult. This is a direct quote of a safety report received by a B1900D crew:
"On XX Feb, the security team from XXX flew with XX from XX to XX. During the flight, the following observations were made:
- During the take off rotation, both pilot and co-pilot put the (sic)hands on the throttle, which is the normal take-off procedure for non-tarmac runways. However, immediately after take-off, both crew members released the throttle simultaneously. For maximum safety during take-off, it is recommended that the pilot flying the plane remains with its (sic) hands on the throttle until the first changing of power setting (500-1000 feet above the ground).
- The handling of the landing lights was upside down; they were switched on after take-off and off for landing. During daytime operations, such procedures does not represent a major safety concern but shows that check-list procedures must be better respected.
- On the co-pilot side, the altitude indicator (or speed indicator?) was inoperative, which is not a problem as such. However, the inoperative instrument has to be marked as such on the dashboard, which was not the case."
It's difficult to treat this seriously, but it's irritating when we as pilots have to defend our job from this kind of ignorance.
- Normal take off: At v1, PF+PNF removes their hands from the power levers. Doesn't everyone do this nowdays!?
- This guy clearly missed the big 'OFF' marking under the row of light switches on the overhead panel, and got confused by the smaller 'Off' under the master panel light switch, just above the landing light switches. Duh!
- Altitude or airspeed? Which one? And apparently he has a 1900 MMEL, because missing one of those 'is not a problem as such.' Not to mention that there were no inop instruments on that flight at all!
Aaaargh! This is clearly what happens when somebody with a PPL and a giant ego get behind and watch with eagle eyes, trying to find fault.
Anyone have more such tales?