In the March issue, I mentioned my takeoff abort at Dallas Love (KDAL) and how important it is to document repairs to systems that impact the safety of flight. In my case, the hydraulic reservoir was not serviced after maintenance on the system. I aborted the takeoff after noticing an amber “HYD FLUID LOW” annunciator.
The maintenance facility corrected the issue and bid me farewell. “Not so fast,” I argued. “I need a maintenance release for the logbook.”
“Oh sure,” came the reply. “I’ll be back in a minute with that.”
My years of vast flying experience told me that a paper trail was important. Or maybe, it was a story related to me from another pilot. Okay, that’s what it was. Perhaps his story and mine will save you some grief someday.
My friend departed in his single-pilot jet from a busy Northeast airport on a sunny fall day. As usual, right after liftoff, he reached for the gear control to raise the wheels. Nothing happened. After a quick check of circuit breakers, nothing was amiss. But the gear was still down and locked.
“Tower, we’d like to return back to the airport,” he told the controller. “Do you need to declare an emergency?” they asked.” “No, we just have a gear retract problem.”
After returning to the FBO, the pilot called the mobile service unit who told him it would be the next day before they could get to him. My friend knew that there was a factory service center just 30 minutes away. He called them.
“What if I just fly over with the gear down and you can take a look,” he asked. “Sure, no problem,” they said. He did just that and was on his way home after a simple repair.
Three days later, he received a call and a “nasty gram” from the departure FSDO. “We noticed that you departed shortly after a gear issue, and we need to see the maintenance release for the work done.”
Oops. It took numerous months to resolve the issue. I was thinking about this exact scenario as I departed the runway after my abort.
Over four months later, I received a certified letter from my FSDO.
“On November 7, 2020, the Dallas, TX (KDAL) Air Traffic Control Tower reported an occurrence at the aforementioned airport for aircraft N396DM at 13:40 Z hours, 08:40 CDT. The pilot aborted a takeoff due to a hydraulic issue and returned to the ramp. The Federal Aviation Administration, North Texas Flight Standards District Office is required to investigate such occurrence.”
Details in hand, I called the inspector. He was cordial and polite. I explained the incident and ended with, “and I asked for and received a copy of the maintenance release.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” said the inspector. “Just send me a copy and we are good to go.” I asked what might happen if I didn’t have the maintenance release. The answer was not pretty, especially if an accident had been involved.
I learned a valuable lesson from another pilot. Hopefully, you will, too.
Fly safe.