A couple of years ago a company aircraft suffered substantial damage following a cowling being left open during a ground run. This resulted in the aircraft being off line for over a month.
The pilot who started the engine and the engineers present were held to blame. There were human factors issues involved in why the engineers did not close or notice the cowling open and it was a large cowling clearly visible as open. The pilot was sat in the cockpit and unable to see the cowling but as commander had a resposibility.
What was interesting was that the manufacturer had identified this potential hazard and a modification which involved a warning light in the cockpit had been developed.
This clearly would have indicated to the pilot that an unsafe condition existed.
I questioned why the mod had not been embodied. The answer was that the risk of spurious indications outweighed the benefit. One wonders if half a million pounds later that cost /risk analysis was still valid.
At least I was able to give copies of the modification to the staff involved which enabled them to demonstrate that the company also had to take a share of the blame.
In reality situations such as this where maintenance is ongoing are non standard and carry a higher risk than a normal operation. We all need to be vigilant and sometimes that second look around can be the saving.
I was employed on hangar maintenance with the aircraft leaving the hangar around 5 am. I made a habit of walking round the aircraft as I went out of the door on my way home after all maintenance was complete and certified. Panels found open, ground lock still fitted, empty hydraulic oil can in the wheel well, reel of locking wire in the wheel well. Worth that extra couple of minutes to save the embarrasment of the crew pointing out the above.