WarleyAir wrote:
Sure piston not authorised for commercial by EASA.
It is an I know of an AOC.
Some strange info on French press.
They said that two pilots showed up at Nantes Airport and the most experienced one refuse to do the flight.
In the scenario I’m thinking off: Private airplane, owner flown with a professional pilot/instructor on the right seat.
Weather not really good maybe some technical issue with the airplane. The guy how as the knowledge/experience/proper IFR licence refuse to go for his own reasons and the “owner” decided we was better than his pilot and departed anyway…
How does one pre-flight an electrically de-iced prop? Is it similar to the pitot tube (via touch)?
Romain wrote:
The guy how as the knowledge/experience/proper IFR licence refuse to go for his own reasons and the “owner” decided we was better than his pilot and departed anyway…
IMHO irrespective of pilot/aircraft/weather, I think that specific flight would have departed anyway given the “mission”, even with thunderstorms or earthquakes….
Some employers do have restrictions on mean of travel when doing important business trips, their Aviation/Travel department will disprove categorically any GA fleet, 90% of bizjets and 70% of CAT companies, the head of these departments are typically 20k hours pilots or 20 years engineers, I wonder if in the football/celebrity scene this is a bit of hit and miss?
To me, this sounds like textbook John F. Kennedy reloaded. New guy, needs to attend trainining next morning, president owns a plane, so let’s get him there.
No IFR rating or none filed, maybe one or more other pilots said no way, therefore VFR, most likely private, not commercial, therefore low (and then even lower) altitude, pitch black dark night, no visual reference, encountering weather, maybe icing; messages of the passenger about the plane falling apart may hint to prop icing. Icecold water, no chance for an emergency landing, and who knows if they even had a raft or lifevests on board. At this time of the year, if they survived the crash (which I doubt), that’s a matter of minutes.
Very very sad and completely unnecessary.
TimR wrote:
How does one pre-flight an electrically de-iced prop? Is it similar to the pitot tube (via touch)?
We check it once a month or so while the plane is on the ground, with engine not running. It tears a lot of current from the battery, but I switch it on and experience the black rubbers getting warm. I repeat that with the pitot tube. During run-up – when I know I have to go through clouds – I turn the prop de-ice on and see the prop de-ice amp gauge react. On IFR flights, during normal run up, I turn on the pitot tube on and see the normal amp gauge twitch very slightly. That’s all.
On the PA31 you cycle the prop deice system and check the associated ammeter; three times, once for each blade.
Listening to the audio the engine sounds ‘smooth’ but there are surges which are similar to the turbo kicking in/out. I’m sure such audio information can be examined, in precise detail, by the appropriate accident investigation authority.
Pitot heat is a 100% check before every flight. One could do the same with a hot prop, presumably?
If the turbo was running unevenly, could that be ice ingestion into the air intake?
The pilot is being named on Pprune and videos shared of a news item filmed (some years ago) about him. Also named in the Daily Telegraph.
The name on prune and elsewhere (DH) is incorrect – it was posted here earlier last night (posts since deleted because they brought no information) and the man has popped up on FB saying he is alive. The latest name I have needs to be checked out, but appears to be locally confirmed as his car is still parked there and his friends are confirming it.
