Karl B - thank you for your very helpful – and very obvious suggestion - which I never considered to my utter embarrassment. Actually, a quick phone call to “Spanners” would have solved it but peer pressure (everyone else claimed it was not a problem when I spoke to them) made me think it was me being a pathetic pilot! So that call was not made – this time! Learned a big lesson here so thank you for that!
SNS3 – I’m not quite sure where your “sexual innuendo” comment stems from, nor why I seem to have upset you so much. My point raised is that, if something is NOT clearly broken (ie covered in the MEL), how should you approach an issue when you feel something is not quite as it should be, but all the more experienced pilots in the Company who you talk to say something is fine? Fortunately, Karl Bamforth has quickly steered me in the right direction – an approach which I should have taken, and will in the future, take. I look to more experienced people like you and Karl for help so please have a think before you have a go at those less experienced than yourself! It may prevent an accident happening one day. Seriously!
All – regarding who can define when an aircraft is fit to fly or not … I believe it must start with an Engineer who will have a whole raft of things to do which are not obvious to a Pilot. This is really an “AND” gate situation in IT logic terms – both the Engineer AND the Captain must agree the aircraft is fit to fly. Both parties can deem an aircraft “unfit to fly” – and neither should be questioned in that decision, and neither can over-rule each others decision as those decisions are often based on different criteria. If one says “Go” and the other says “No”, the only way forward is not to fly until a suitable, mutually agreed way forward, has been devised – a classic example being a limitation placed on the aircraft until such time as the problem can be further investigated. Here, the MEL should define that limitation – for example, VFR flight only or whatever is laid down appropriate to the system in question. Hope this helps – and does not rile SNS3 too much! Just seen Mad Scientist’s post – so UK-wise I believe it to be the same!
Last edited by Hot 'n' High; 29th October 2008 at 20:40.