And the owner was a Captain with a reputable airline?
Un...king believable.
Could well be the same guy once had an Aztec. A colleague hired it so that I could renew his CIR. When we climbed into it there was a very strong smell of fuel. So we climbed out for a closer look. Upon giving the wing a bit of a shake, fuel started pouring out of the centre section belly area.
Of course we cancelled and wrote up the defect. The owner went ballistic, accusing us of trying to send him broke. Seems that a couple of the fuel tank cells had to be replaced to clear the defect from the Maintenance Release. Shame....
pr!cks with that attitude deserve to be bankrupted.