Re blades...
It's not just a question of how many hours have been flown on 'em...
I once had a chat with a 206 pilot who claimed he could get more airspeed out of his max cont torque figure by beeping back on Nr; apparently 7 or 8 % Nr reduction was worth around 10kts, so geeting him home quicker.
I fix, not drive, so I don't know if it was true or B/S, but I do know those blades would have been taking one helluva (huvver?) lot more bending load...
I'm beginning to feel that maybe staying on the ground wasn't the second choice after all...not sure I could handle all the worry
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Ground tested, no fault found