Ed Dartford
Well-Known Member
Starting your Lycoming is not the only thing that becomes difficult when it's cold. And pilots, FOs anyway, do more than fly the plane.
The CRJ that son Matt flies has a single point fueling point. After attaching the hose some sort of thing in the hose pushes up and opens a valve in the plane. But not last night. After long discussion with the ground crew Matt told them they had to get a truck and fuel the plane from the top. After more extensive arguments they got the truck. In the meanwhile the flight was canceled.
Later, with fuel and pax on board, they tried to close the door/step. It is electrically operated. But not last night. And, no SkyWest maintenance at that airport. More discussions, leading to authorization to use other maintenance people. The electric motor would not work. To close the door manually the ropes needed to be dressed aside so that they would not interfere with the door. Then, several husky ground crew lifted the door manually. They lifted it so fast that it came within an inch of KOing the flight attendant.
Flying home was the easy part.
The CRJ that son Matt flies has a single point fueling point. After attaching the hose some sort of thing in the hose pushes up and opens a valve in the plane. But not last night. After long discussion with the ground crew Matt told them they had to get a truck and fuel the plane from the top. After more extensive arguments they got the truck. In the meanwhile the flight was canceled.
Later, with fuel and pax on board, they tried to close the door/step. It is electrically operated. But not last night. And, no SkyWest maintenance at that airport. More discussions, leading to authorization to use other maintenance people. The electric motor would not work. To close the door manually the ropes needed to be dressed aside so that they would not interfere with the door. Then, several husky ground crew lifted the door manually. They lifted it so fast that it came within an inch of KOing the flight attendant.
Flying home was the easy part.
