YOU are the PIC - Safety & Liability Ultimately Rests on YOUR Shoulders

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YOU are the PIC - Safety & Liability Ultimately Rests on YOUR Shoulders
January 27, 2021

Our last newsletter reported on the various subjects discussed during the January 13, 2021 Club meeting. Toward the end of this meeting, a member named Evan spoke up to discuss N2921S’s recent history of remaining “airworthy” in the Club’s Schedule Master™ system despite previous reports of engine problems that turned out to be quite serious.

The history of this Cherokee Six, N2921S, is relevant: It was purchased by the Club in November 2018, eight months after a previous Club-owned Cherokee Six, N54476, was totaled in a crash at KPMP on March 1, 2018. But N2921S quickly developed serious problems that grounded it and, by the end of 2019, the Club decided to sell it to then-Chief Pilot Ron Ziller. The terms of the sale were not fully satisfied until March 23, 2020, and Ziller now leases the aircraft back to the Club.

N2921S’s Early Engine Problems: The recent serious maintenance problems of N2921S within the Club are uncomfortably reminiscent of its problems within months of purchase by the Club. Back in early 2019, serious problems were discovered, including an irreparable crack in the engine block, that immediately grounded the aircraft. The Club didn’t have the approximately $60,000 needed to install a remanufactured engine, so the Club’s Board made the decision to sell the inoperable aircraft to Ron Ziller. This decision attracted the critical attention of many of the Club’s current Board members, most of whom at the time were relatively new members. They fought and argued relentlessly within the Club about this business decision, but it seems to have been completed after rational assessment by the previous Board. With a sale and lease-back, the promise was to allow the membership to regain use of a re-engined Cherokee Six. That plan seemed to work out for both parties. Even the current Board seems pleased with this arrangement despite their prior rancor.

About That $60,000 Engine Repair: We do not know if the Club ever considered borrowing enough money to keep N2921S and put it back in the air, but we are reminded of the dustup at the January 13 Club meeting over a $46,000 loan/lien that Paul Sanchez had made to the Club. That conversation quickly went sideways. The President was demanding all manner of proof of the debt. The Club seems to be laying the groundwork for defaulting on this debt in addition to others (e.g. dozens of $1,700 Membership Fees). Thus, it seems that if anyone had raised their hand(s) in 2019 to chip in for the $60,000 to repair N2921S, those folks would now find themselves treated to a great deal of grief and ridicule when the new Board came into town to challenge and default on the Club’s debts to members who were just trying to help the Club.

Schedule Master™ is Hiding Things: At the January 13, 2021 meeting, Evan’s concern was that Schedule Master™ was hiding a series of major mechanical discrepancies with N2921S, all being quietly carried in Schedule Master™ because Club officials just wanted to keep the airplane flying. The issue at hand first presented itself mainly as an engine that was difficult to start. For Evan, after some unsuccessful telephonic trouble-shooting by non-mechanic Club officials, he found himself stranded in Fort Myers after he had just topped off the fuel tanks for the flight home. Evan rented a car to get home because the airplane would not start, costing him $285, plus likely $100+ in avgas, expenses that the Club officials did not reimburse (even after realizing that the issues they had minimized in Schedule Master™ were, in fact, serious and consequential). Evan mentioned that this same problem also stranded somebody for half a day in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. When the Club finally decided to take N2921S in for maintenance, it was initially determined that the problems involved one or more loose spark plugs and six leaking fuel injectors. But soon thereafter, it was also discovered the piston rings in the #4 cylinder had been improperly installed and were causing other problems, and were in need of fairly substantial inspection and repair. The Club President added an unusual disclaimer that he was only repeating what Ron Ziller had told him, implying this may not be the whole story. This could be interpreted to mean that even more discrepancies may have been found by a qualified A&P mechanic inspecting N2921S.

Why Weren’t the Problems Caught? As he continued discussing these issues, Evan said he felt these kinds of items should have been caught in the previous 100-hour inspection. While Evan is a newer member and seemed to be carefully dancing around the edges so as not to offend anyone, what he seemed to be getting at, with slowly increasing frustration evident in his tone, is that these issues were being persistently, incorrectly, or incompletely dismissed and mis-diagnosed by non-mechanics, including the Club President and Chief Pilot/Maintenance Coordinator. What was happening here was well beyond a mere starter issue.

The Consequences of Failure to Document Can be Fatal: Evan properly said that when N2921S’s engine began operating abnormally like what happened here, the Club should have put the aircraft into the shop for immediate inspection and/or repairs. It is possible that inspection in the shop would reveal minor issues that could be deferred, but it could also reveal the need for immediate repair. In this case it was the latter, but those determinations are for a qualified mechanic to make. The issues should not be hushed up, pressured by Club officials to keep off the books, trivialized in Schedule Master™, and then allowed to embark upon leisure flights across the Everglades, let alone international overwater flights. If the engine had quit going to or coming back from the Bahamas and the aircraft had to be ditched, it would have sunk to the ocean floor carrying all its maintenance defects down to its watery grave where no one would ever discover them. The pilot would have been blamed for negligence and any fatalities or injuries.

Evan did his best to convey that, besides the inconveniences that unreliable aircraft cause to members, these aircraft carry friends and family, and someone can get hurt. He believed the Club should give greater attention to certain kinds of “squawks” before further operation to ensure maintenance discrepancies can be properly deferred.

The Club’s “Distract and Divert” Strategy: As we mentioned in our last newsletter, the Club’s leadership did their best to distract and divert the conversation away from the serious issues Evan raised. They appeared to be all transmit and no receive. They completely missed, or even dissed, Evan’s points by saying things like “Ron Ziller is a great guy,” even though Evan never suggested anything negative about Ron. Instead, their dismissal caused Evan to repeat his concerns, only to hear Club officials and their supporters repeatedly dismiss and ignore him and attempt to deflect what was clearly intended as constructive criticism.

Just Keep ‘Em Flying! The Club seems to just want the airplanes flying no matter what. They are willing to diagnose and decide if the airplane is airworthy without inspection from a licensed mechanic and without even seeing it themselves, even via a telephone call from 150 miles away. It is hard to imagine an experienced A&P mechanic ever putting their ticket on the line like that, but it appears the Club wants you to put your ticket on the line. They want you to listen to them and follow their policies, but they make clear that they aren’t going to listen you YOU (or Evan), the Pilot-in-Command.

Inexperienced Pilots Should not be Giving Advice: Even the Club Treasurer, Andrew Bilukha, could not resist getting into the act of rendering advice. Apparently he felt that his 29 months as a Private Pilot qualified him to second-guess Evan, who is a much more experienced and certificated pilot. Even though Bilukha likely only has a fraction of Evan’s stated 300+ hours in Cherokee Six aircraft, an even smaller fraction of Evan’s total flying time, and lacks Evan’s flying certifications, Bilukha still felt the need to hear his own voice, but he added nothing productive of consequence. He concluded with the most telling admission of the day: “We’re doing the best we can.” Those six words probably sum up why the Club membership needs to elect new faces to the Board. The best that the incumbents can do is continue to operate aircraft in need of major maintenance and criticize any member who dares to speak up.

Even the Chief Pilot Missed the Mark: But Andrew Bilukha was not the only Club official to discount Evan’s substantial experience in the Cherokee Six. When he had the problem in Fort Myers, Evan called the Club’s Chief Pilot/Maintenance Coordinator, Ara Yanikian. Ara reportedly gave many suggestions and advice about how to start the engine. One would hope that the Club’s Chief Pilot was aware of Evan’s advanced ratings and experience, and that Evan didn’t need advice about how to start an aircraft engine. Ara has enough experience of his own that he should have immediately recognized this may not be a simple issue. When Evan described the symptoms to Ara and explained he could not get the aircraft started, Ara really should have suspected something more serious than a glitchy starter. We are also concerned that, despite the fact Ara was on the January Club meeting Zoom call and heard Evan’s input, he made no apology or statement of contrition, especially since he and the rest of us now all know the starting problems were actually due to some very serious maintenance issues.

Is it any real wonder why we get the feeling this Club is not going to change a damn thing when it comes to improving aircraft maintenance, reliability, and safety?

The Club’s Laissez-Faire Mindset Seems to be Gaining Momentum: A large part of why we think nothing will change takes us back to our report on the last Club meeting on November 11, 2020. During that November meeting, Club officials discussed their views on maintenance, including how expensive maintenance has become, dwindling maintenance vendor options, and deferral of repairs by non-mechanics. There was also a rather long discussion citing the need to refrain from writing up discrepancies (“squawks”) that have the effect of grounding airplanes. This approach was spearheaded mainly by the Club’s Chief Pilot/Maintenance Coordinator, Ara Yanikian. It was stated that – before documenting discrepancies – members should first make contact with Club officials (none of whom are FAA-licensed A&P mechanics). Using Evan’s failed start event in N2921S as example, if Evan, after following Club advice and calling Ara, lucked out and somehow got the aircraft started and airborne, it could have been catastrophic. Evan could have gotten airborne and had an in-flight fire or catastrophic engine failure over a remote part of the Everglades, resulting in ditching or crash landing.

Dial-Up Maintenance is a Flawed Policy: Any policy stating that a pilot needs to call someone and get permission before documenting a mechanical discrepancy is frightening. It is contrary to well-established aviation safety standards. YOU are the PIC. If you know there is a discrepancy, then write it up. If you need guidance about nomenclature or other technical details, then make a phone call. But you should never, ever, feel like you need somebody’s permission to document a mechanical discrepancy. Any pilot with military or commercial experience would be aghast at any suggestion that, before documenting an aircraft discrepancy, they must first consult and call a list of phone numbers of non-mechanics.

However unwittingly, Ara was glossing over much more serious maintenance problems by trying to “fix” an aircraft over the phone from afar, all so that the Club’s revenue would keep coming in and maintenance expenses would be lower. That approach could have easily resulted in loss of life. It still can. For everybody who flew that airplane and took family and friends along while these problems were being carried along from misdiagnosis, you’re just plain lucky. Silence and repression are not good attributes of an aviation safety program, so when someone like Evan speaks up loud and clear enough so Club officials just might be shamed into listening and acting, he may well have saved your life and your loved ones.

The Importance of Preflight Documentation Review: Every pilot knows a proper preflight begins with a review of the aircraft logbook as the first step to determine airworthiness. Within the Club, this means reviewing maintenance history (“squawks”) in the ScheduleMaster™ system. If prior pilots chose not to – or were coerced not to – report aircraft discrepancies, for whatever reason, this may not bode well for your flight. Additionally, if prior pilots do report discrepancies, but Club officials decide to minimize or downgrade those write-ups out of convenience or ignorance, that too may not bode well for your flight (as Evan so articulately conveyed).

What You Gonna Say When They Come For You? What you will hopefully never have to find out about firsthand is that part of every NTSB and FAA accident or incident investigation includes exhaustive research and documentation. They often take months, even years to accomplish. The NTSB and FAA will reverse-engineer the offending event and everything surrounding it, to include reviewing all available records, which will even include probing activities in your personal life (no stone will be left unturned). Virtually every mishap involves investigation to determine if “pilot error” was a contributing factor. Investigators will also interview everyone who had flown, maintained, or even touched the aircraft recently. Basically, they get out their microscope and inspect things you never even thought of or didn’t think anyone would ever notice. It is difficult to believe that anything good will come should investigators conclude this Club displayed a mindset and established policies to discourage pilots from documenting discrepancies. It’s even harder to believe that anything good will come to Club officials who might be found to have promoted or participated in those policies.

Failure to Document Mechanical Discrepancies is Deemed Willfully Negligent: If you fly (or even just preflight) a plane but decide not to document a discrepancy you discovered, and that plane is subsequently involved in a mishap (or even just a random FAA ramp check), that can become a major problem for you. If the reason you didn’t document was because you felt pressured by or were even directed by some policy or person to not write up an irregularity, that won’t get you off the hook. You are the PIC and this is YOUR responsibility! There may be additional contributing factors as part of any investigation, but your own failure to document a discrepancy will be there right alongside other factors. Rest assured that the FAA will not be satisfied with the defense that you were “just following orders.”

Don’t Count on Legal Representation From the Club: By now, you’ve probably heard from us about the Club’s attorney, Edward Holodak, and the growing number of lawsuits in which he is representing the Club. If you are involved in a mishap, you will almost certainly meet Mr. Holodak, but he won’t be there to help you. He’ll be defending the Club and the Board and their policies, and he will aggressively attack you at every turn, just like he has been doing to other current and former members for the last 10 months. The Club will lawyer up. Every maintenance facility that ever worked on the plane will lawyer up. Piper Aircraft will lawyer up. The aircraft insurance company will lawyer up. They will all look for a scapegoat, and they will all point their fingers at you, especially if there is loss of life. You will find that you suddenly have few friends in the Club, but your newfound enormous legal bills will probably take your mind off of that. This is unfortunately the reality of the world we live in and it is compounded by the litigious actions of the current Club regime, so you may not realize all of this until it’s too late. What might save you from all of this, however, is realizing that documenting discrepancies is not something you just do when it’s convenient for the Club, but every time you operate an aircraft, without exception.

This is Serious Stuff! For those of you who just want to be left alone so you can enjoy flying planes, or you think this is just an administrative issue that can’t affect you, or that this is some political agenda you don’t want to hear about, you really need to evaluate your priorities. Evan’s story is not an isolated incident, nor it is about some other Club a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. You are the Pilot in Command. Your license is always on the line before, during, and even after you fly an airplane. If you knowingly fly a defective airplane, or if you choose not to write up a discrepancy, even if you have been told by the Club doing so is okay but it turns out to actually not be okay,you can and likely will be held responsible. When you point your finger at the Club to deflect blame, rest assured that a Club lawyer will be pointing right back at you claiming that you “misunderstood unofficial hangar talk” and that you are a bad person and worse pilot because you obviously do not understand your PIC responsibilities.

What Would Make Things Better: We think Evan is well-suited to be appointed as the Club’s Maintenance Coordinator. He seems to have a grip on what should be happening. If he wanted to go a step further and run for a seat on the Club’ Board next month, he should be encouraged to do so if for no other reason to give members a viable democratic choice and voice. Even if Evan would end up being a lone voice of reason, he can help make a real difference just by fighting for membership safety on an increasingly autocratic Board. It would seem everybody in the Club, particularly Ara, has something to learn from Evan. We also observe that the Club has never considered it proper for one person to serve as both Aircraft Maintenance Coordinator and Chief Pilot. These distinct roles are even described in separate articles, VII and VIII, in the Club’s By-Laws. making it clear this was never intended to be one person. Furthermore, there are a number of sensible reasons why it should never be one person, even “temporarily.”

See Something – Say Something: In closing, if you’re hesitant to write up a discrepancy due to fear you will be admonished, but write it up anyway, just remember you’ll be alive to entertain almost endless conversations and disagreements about why you wrote it up. Our suggestion – for all pilots – is to adopt the common standard used by military and commercial pilots alike: “If in doubt, write it up.” Another more general philosophy also comes to mind: “See something. Say something.” Don’t let regrets be the cause of nightmares for the rest of your life because someone got hurt or killed after you saw something but did nothing.

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