Page 24 - July18T

AirFleet Capital, Inc.
Quarter Page 4/C Ad
www.Air eetCapital.com
elevator to count the number of static wicks, it was pretty clear that about four inches of the tip of the left elevator was bent down, almost at 90 degrees. The mechanics already had a tall ladder in place to look at the damage, and after climbing up I saw that in addition to the bent part, there was a scrape of red paint along the upper surface of the hor- izontal stabilizer.
Gary surmised the line guys at the Reno FBO did it when they pulled the airplane out of their hangar for us the day before. But if so, how did I miss it? I told him I don’t think I did – counting static wicks is a standard preflight pro- cedure on a Lear 40, and I am almost certain I would have spotted that bent elevator. Besides, the airplane handled fine on our trip back, and I could not imagine that would be the case if the damage was done in Reno.
From his expression, it was evident that is not what Gary wanted to hear be- cause it could only mean one of our two line guys who were working last night (neither of whom were saying a thing), must have done it.
This prompted Gary and I to take a trip to the hangar where the Lear spent the night. It was a rather tight fit that requires turning the airplane once the wings are inside the han- gar door. We inspected the red met- al beams at the level of the Lear’s elevator. Lo and behold, we found a smear of white paint that matches the Lear’s color on one of the cross beams at the exact height of the Lear 40’s elevator.
Now the question was which of the line guys put the airplane away and why did he not say something about it? It turned out it was the new line
Damage caused by a lineman on a Learjet 40.
supervisor, who after being specifically queried said he thought he heard the Lear’s tail it hit something, but he did not think any visible damage had oc- curred, therefore he had not mentioned it. Later that day, the Lear’s left elevator was removed and the factory contacted which estimated the repair to be more than $80,000 with a down time of three weeks. Thankfully, the Lear’s owner is a patient, considerate fellow, and his insurance agreed to pay for the damage. As for the line guy, he immediately lost his job. Damaging the airplane was for- givable, but failing to be up front about it was not. We have not seen him since, but rumor has it he is now working at a Part 121 airport moving airliners.
The Flying Cadillac
José was the next line guy to suffer a similar fate. He was a college-bound high-school senior with high grades, a good work ethic and a great interest in all things mechanical. What more could you ask for?
Shortly after José was employed, a CJ owner-pilot decided that it would be handy to keep a spare vehicle in his private hangar to be used on the rare occasion he had no other transporta- tion. And so, he purchased a brand new $80,000, big-engined black Cadillac. Our CJ owner parked this impressive machine, with 78 miles on the odom- eter, in the corner of his hangar with the keys left on the seat so he would not have to look for them.
Late one night, the CJ owner re- turned from California and asked José to put the airplane away in his somewhat distant hangar. Although José was relatively new to the job, he was known to be fastidiously cautious when moving airplanes, so the owner
22 • TWIN & TURBINE
July 2018