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Tomorrow I am probably going to lose my job, a job that I never thought I would have nor that I never thought I would want to give up....Now, I'm happy to go.
The owner of our flight school is no joke unbalanced, very Stalinesqe in the way he runs the business. To make a long story short he has made a decision that requires me to carry an additional 300lbs in the back of our twin engine airplane when I am instructing. His reasoning is this makes the airplane more efficient at cruise and therefore saves gas, which is does. Here is the issue: This airplane is a primary trainer for people seeking their multi-engine license and in pursuit of that we fly around on one engine about 60% of the time, generally we only cruise for less than 10 minutes. When you lose an engine you lose 50% of your excess horsepower and 80% of your overall aircraft performance, meaning the airplane doesn't fly well. One of the maneuvers I spend a lot of time teaching is called VMC which can be very dangerous. Most of the time it is easy to demonstrate and very docile but throwing in the extra 300lbs makes it VERY dangerous if the plane gets away from them pilot. When dealing with students the plane gets away from the quite often, thats why we train, to fix that. I told my boss that desptie the owners wishes I will not fly the plane if I consider it to be unsafe. The owner said that I was to fly the plane "that fuckin way because I fuckin said so, (he has) more time in that plane than I do total time." My reply was: "all the more reason to be cautious."
So, tomorrow, I have three flights in the Seneca and I refuse to fly it with the weights in the back. When he sees me remove them I expect to lose my job. I've spent the last hour running the numbers and while the aircraft is within limits for the center of gravity it is far too close to the aft limit than I am comfortable with. It is also well above maximum takeoff and landing weights which makes the flight illegal by every definition possible. I hope I don't get fired but I won't lose any sleep if I do.
The owner of our flight school is no joke unbalanced, very Stalinesqe in the way he runs the business. To make a long story short he has made a decision that requires me to carry an additional 300lbs in the back of our twin engine airplane when I am instructing. His reasoning is this makes the airplane more efficient at cruise and therefore saves gas, which is does. Here is the issue: This airplane is a primary trainer for people seeking their multi-engine license and in pursuit of that we fly around on one engine about 60% of the time, generally we only cruise for less than 10 minutes. When you lose an engine you lose 50% of your excess horsepower and 80% of your overall aircraft performance, meaning the airplane doesn't fly well. One of the maneuvers I spend a lot of time teaching is called VMC which can be very dangerous. Most of the time it is easy to demonstrate and very docile but throwing in the extra 300lbs makes it VERY dangerous if the plane gets away from them pilot. When dealing with students the plane gets away from the quite often, thats why we train, to fix that. I told my boss that desptie the owners wishes I will not fly the plane if I consider it to be unsafe. The owner said that I was to fly the plane "that fuckin way because I fuckin said so, (he has) more time in that plane than I do total time." My reply was: "all the more reason to be cautious."
So, tomorrow, I have three flights in the Seneca and I refuse to fly it with the weights in the back. When he sees me remove them I expect to lose my job. I've spent the last hour running the numbers and while the aircraft is within limits for the center of gravity it is far too close to the aft limit than I am comfortable with. It is also well above maximum takeoff and landing weights which makes the flight illegal by every definition possible. I hope I don't get fired but I won't lose any sleep if I do.