172driver wrote:
What if the pressurization check failed on the ground and he tried to get the thing working, failed and then decided to scud run at a non-O2 altitude? Not a wise decision, for sure, but IMHO plausible.
What pressurisation check? There isn’t one until in flight.
JasonC wrote:
What pressurisation check? There isn’t one until in flight.
Understood (and was in fact wondering), I know a friend of mine does a check on the ground in his P210. Different a/c, I stand corrected.
172driver wrote:
Understood (and was in fact wondering), I know a friend of mine does a check on the ground in his P210. Different a/c, I stand corrected.
Normally you just check passing 10k feet that the cabin is pressurising. Main thing you can forget is to activate the bleed air. Even in the Meridian there is no warning until passing 10k cabin altitude.
Two seat cushions found on beach of Surtainville, France (30 miles from planes last known position).
JasonC wrote:
Normally you just check passing 10k feet that the cabin is pressurising. Main thing you can forget is to activate the bleed air. Even in the Meridian there is no warning until passing 10k cabin altitude.
I don’t know the exact procedure in the P210, but I do know that he checks the door seals inflation on the ground. I take it, that’s not done on the PA46 then.
172driver wrote:
I don’t know the exact procedure in the P210, but I do know that he checks the door seals inflation on the ground.
If he has the Bob Seals inflatable door seals, I presume he’s checking that the pump goes off after maximum 60s. That’s part of an AD that came after the pump was found to overheat and cause fires if left operating for too long. The pumps have to be replaced (or disabled) as per the AD, but they kept the restriction to max 60s continuous operating time.
Another reason is to avoid longer routings, which, even if they may be avoided in flight, mean planning a tech stop.
A PA46 has enough range for this flight several times over, I would think.
In today’s Daily Trash, more “revelations”:
Mr Ibbotson, a boiler engineer and part-time pilot, told a friend he was ‘a bit rusty’ with the instruments of the 35-year-old aircraft and it did not have the licence to carry paying passengers.
Cardiff had originally proposed funding a commercial flight for Sala but the McKay family instead funded a private plane. ‘When you spend €17m on a footballer, you don’t put him on an EasyJet flight,’ McKay said.
The lack of a CPL is a bit moot if there is no AOC.
Peter wrote:
A PA46 has enough range for this flight several times over, I would think.
Yes, I was just adding to your list of why people do it.
Peter wrote:
Cardiff had originally proposed funding a commercial flight for Sala but the McKay family instead funded a private plane. ‘When you spend €17m on a footballer, you don’t put him on an EasyJet flight,’ McKay said.
Yeah sure! Easyjet might not cut it (albeit I like the 16£ „business class“ upgrade at the emergency exit. Good product!), you use Netjets or some other large jet fleet operator. Instead they sent him away with a pilot not licensed to fly for hire, in a single engine piston on a night flight over cold water. Good grief.
Too bad Sala wasn’t confident enough (unusual for very wealthy people) to turn around and tell those who „insisted on a private plane“ that he expected a twin jet with two pilots in uniform* and is under no circumstances getting onto this piece of whatever.
*as always, there are horror stories there too but as a matter of statistics it beats private flights in SEPs by far.
Personal safety barometer for sending my family:
Easyjet (most other bigger US/EU airlines) – anytime
Netjets – anytime
Small mom and pop jet operator using freelancers – only after asking around who the drivers are
Private pilots with piston plane – no
