rhmc24
Absent Comrade
My career was with Pan Am, an airline pioneering international air travel, 1943-1980, from cleaning sparkplugs to exec --
Guam, large island, a US possession in the far Pacific, was the operating base of a small Pan Am airline that serviced the Trust Territories, islands formerly Japanese. Now 1960s Pan Am's 2 aged DC-4, 4 engine aircraft & 3 SA-19 twin engine amphibians serviced the several islands, some of which had runways & some requiring water landing.
I was sent to Guam to investigate an accident to one of the DC-4s being taxied by one of our maintenance people -- that was how I heard it as I left. The scene was disastrous when I got there, looking almost like an in-flight crash, my first impression. The nose was stopped by plowing into the quonset hut maintenance office. On its way there the four engines running had chewed up a mess of work stands & on its way, right inboard propeller tore the radiator off a big generator unit & threw it into the forward baggage compartment. Quite a lot of damage to the airplane from flying debris.
Several misdeeds figured into the cause. Before daylight one of the Foremen was to taxi to the terminal for morning departure. He, alone, pulled the wheel chocks, brakes set, started the four engines & bent forward to feel behind the hydraulic pressure gauge to ascertain a reported fix of a drip leak. In service its brakes were replaced. One of the major causes was that the brakes were inoperative.
Side bar: The system hydraulic pressure was 3000 psi which had a debooster to reduce brake pressure to 600 psi. Brake-change required valves be shut off while the brake was removed but in this case had not been turned on afterward. This allowed the brakes to be 'parked' in the cockpit but free to roll at the wheel.
Engines started the airplane rolling, some build up of momentum & with distraction of the leak check, the taxi-er got a rude awakening.
The man involved had been in the Guam job only a few days but had years experience with the same aircraft type which is how he got the assignment. A contributing factor was he had been in other assignments for several years.
Without excusing him for his misdeeds & omissions, I laid the overall responsibility on the local maintenance manager, considering apparent routine disregard of procedures. I spent some time crafting a coded telex & sending the above info back to HQ. I then went on around the world inspecting three of our stations before getting back in couple weeks.
Side bar: There is a code book available in book stores with thousands of 5 letter groups, each with a phrase meaning. Anyone with the book can de-code the message but it prevents casual reading.
On my return my boss said my report was being held up, its being unpopular in some executive quarters due to my assigned 'culprit' being an old timer with long time friend associations. Would I reconsider, etc., revise or whatever; to which I said that was my finding from investigating the facts but if he wanted to re-work the report, he was the boss & I had no objection. Couple days later a similar conversation.
Several days later I was alone, late lunch in the cafeteria, boss comes in & sits across from me, saying we have to talk about this Guam report. I was fed up with the subject & told him I had said all I had to say about it. He stormed out & I figured I'd cooked my own goose.
Saved by another Guam near-disaster, next morning boss goes to Guam. One of the SA-16s on a test flight developed control problems & the pilot barely got it back on the water & had to taxi miles to get back. In service an elevator trim tab had been changed & its bolt just stuck in the hole when the worker went off shift. Left unfinished it worked OK till it it came out in flight. I never heard any more about my Guam report but boss did a thorough house cleaning there.
Couple years later boss was dealing with a major event in Karachi, having meetings in his office with the their VP boss , Chief Flight Engineer, the perp & others. At a lull point he called me in alone & asked me to be judge & jury while he told me the facts. I listened & gave him my recco based on facts presented & then I asked "why Me?." He said 'because I knew you would give me your opinion rather than say what I wanted to hear'---->
Guam, large island, a US possession in the far Pacific, was the operating base of a small Pan Am airline that serviced the Trust Territories, islands formerly Japanese. Now 1960s Pan Am's 2 aged DC-4, 4 engine aircraft & 3 SA-19 twin engine amphibians serviced the several islands, some of which had runways & some requiring water landing.
I was sent to Guam to investigate an accident to one of the DC-4s being taxied by one of our maintenance people -- that was how I heard it as I left. The scene was disastrous when I got there, looking almost like an in-flight crash, my first impression. The nose was stopped by plowing into the quonset hut maintenance office. On its way there the four engines running had chewed up a mess of work stands & on its way, right inboard propeller tore the radiator off a big generator unit & threw it into the forward baggage compartment. Quite a lot of damage to the airplane from flying debris.
Several misdeeds figured into the cause. Before daylight one of the Foremen was to taxi to the terminal for morning departure. He, alone, pulled the wheel chocks, brakes set, started the four engines & bent forward to feel behind the hydraulic pressure gauge to ascertain a reported fix of a drip leak. In service its brakes were replaced. One of the major causes was that the brakes were inoperative.
Side bar: The system hydraulic pressure was 3000 psi which had a debooster to reduce brake pressure to 600 psi. Brake-change required valves be shut off while the brake was removed but in this case had not been turned on afterward. This allowed the brakes to be 'parked' in the cockpit but free to roll at the wheel.
Engines started the airplane rolling, some build up of momentum & with distraction of the leak check, the taxi-er got a rude awakening.
The man involved had been in the Guam job only a few days but had years experience with the same aircraft type which is how he got the assignment. A contributing factor was he had been in other assignments for several years.
Without excusing him for his misdeeds & omissions, I laid the overall responsibility on the local maintenance manager, considering apparent routine disregard of procedures. I spent some time crafting a coded telex & sending the above info back to HQ. I then went on around the world inspecting three of our stations before getting back in couple weeks.
Side bar: There is a code book available in book stores with thousands of 5 letter groups, each with a phrase meaning. Anyone with the book can de-code the message but it prevents casual reading.
On my return my boss said my report was being held up, its being unpopular in some executive quarters due to my assigned 'culprit' being an old timer with long time friend associations. Would I reconsider, etc., revise or whatever; to which I said that was my finding from investigating the facts but if he wanted to re-work the report, he was the boss & I had no objection. Couple days later a similar conversation.
Several days later I was alone, late lunch in the cafeteria, boss comes in & sits across from me, saying we have to talk about this Guam report. I was fed up with the subject & told him I had said all I had to say about it. He stormed out & I figured I'd cooked my own goose.
Saved by another Guam near-disaster, next morning boss goes to Guam. One of the SA-16s on a test flight developed control problems & the pilot barely got it back on the water & had to taxi miles to get back. In service an elevator trim tab had been changed & its bolt just stuck in the hole when the worker went off shift. Left unfinished it worked OK till it it came out in flight. I never heard any more about my Guam report but boss did a thorough house cleaning there.
Couple years later boss was dealing with a major event in Karachi, having meetings in his office with the their VP boss , Chief Flight Engineer, the perp & others. At a lull point he called me in alone & asked me to be judge & jury while he told me the facts. I listened & gave him my recco based on facts presented & then I asked "why Me?." He said 'because I knew you would give me your opinion rather than say what I wanted to hear'---->
