All things being equal, if a component CAN be fitted back-to-front, inside-out or upside-down it WILL be at some time or other.
Unfortunately today, like non-North-Sea helo pilots, engineers work long hours under extreme pressure to achieve a result the we were well rewarded for ten years ago.
Engineering in a competetive marketplace is regarded as an expensive necessity especially since the advent of the JAR regs.
If, as alleged, the rotating scissors failed due to incorrect fitment the reasons for that way of fitting MUST be correctly established by the AAIB.
Human factors must be included in the report.In any pilot error report the commander's flying experience 1. In total 2. In the last 90 days and 3.The last 28 days is expressed. The licensed engineers' previous time on duty is never released, so in theory the concerned personnel could have been on shift for a ridiculous amount of time before making a mistake.
All in all some poor minimum wage geezer in Italy may have painted ALL the scissors in a certain batch "THIS WAY OUT" on the wrong side os the scissors for all we know. Like pilot based accidets there is usually more than one cause ( and often many) that contribute to an incident.
Let's be thankful there have been no injuries in both these accidents.
[This message has been edited by 4Rvibes (edited 02 July 2000).]