Dodgy weather radar in Metro aircraft
Over the years I have talked to many current and former Metro pilots. A familiar subject that comes up in conversations about flying the Metro is the surprising number of adverse comments on the poor reputation of the weather radar systems installed in these aircraft.
Most complaints are about failure of the radar to pick up obviously significant thunderstorms yet are ground tested serviceable when verbally reported to maintenance. Note my use of "verbal reports to maintenance" rather than written reports. I think this point is significant. After all, a written report on a defective weather radar would be the cause of grounding an Airbus or Boeing - so why not a Metro?
Forgive the generalisation, but the impression I get is that Metro pilots in general are reluctant to enter details of the defective radar in the maintenance release for various reasons. The most common reason being "it is a waste of time because it makes no difference." This suggests a sense of apathy yet an inadvertent penetration of a thunderstorm at the altitudes that Metro aircraft fly is no laughing matter even to the most experienced IFR pilot.
Has any Pprune reader struck similar problems when using Metro radar, past or present? If so, this suggests an airworthiness problem worthy of the attention by the Regulator