I once considered leaseback when I was a student pilot at Jax Navy Flying Club years ago. KNIP's Runway 9-27 is 8,000 feet long, and I watched from the clubhouse as a club 150 with two aboard took off ..... twice! About halfway down the runway, and maybe 500 feet in the air, the airplane suddenly pitched nose down, and didn't recover until just before the moment of impact! The 150 hit very hard on all three gear at the same time .... bounced back into the air .... and continued the climb! My jaw dropped at the sight of the cockpit belly nearly hitting the ground, and the wings flexing what must have been a foot and a half or more at the wingtips, enough to be clearly seen from over a mile away! I was sure the airplane would immediately circle and land for a hard landing inspection.
WRONG!
They continued their flight, and left the area. I shook my head and went inside to prepare for my own flight, but didn't report what I'd seen (I wanted to give them the opportunity to do the right thing themselves!)
When I'd finished my flight, the aircraft I had seen nearly crash on the runway was tied down in it's normal spot. I did a cursory visual inspection from a distance as I walked to the clubhouse to turn in my keys and write the reports. I expected to see obviously bent main gear, sagging engine, bent propeller blade tips, popped rivets and badly wrinkled skin on wing and fuselage .... none of which was evident from that distance. I know what I saw! This airplane should be badly damaged!
Once inside to turn in my keys, I asked to see the records for that aircraft (this is common when planning your next flight, so I raised no suspicion). Neither the student
nor the instructor had reported the hard landing, and the aircraft had been released for flight,
with no further maintenance or inspection required!
I reluctantly reported what I had seen, and we discussed why the instructor had seen fit not to file a report on the incident, at least indicating the need for a thorough inspection. We could think of no good reason for his not doing so! I was assured that the matter would be handled appropriately.
The following visit to the club, I again surreptitiously requested to see that aircraft's records! I was shocked to find that the aircraft had flown every day since the incident, and no record whatever of my verbal report, or of a hard landing inspection being conducted at any time since. I asked about this, and was told that the chief pilot (club president) had been told what I'd seen, and had done a thorough preflight/postflight inspection and found nothing out of the ordinary with the aircraft. It was then released for flight under his "authority"! Since no discrepancies had been written against the aircraft by the previous pilot, there was no "legal" requirement for an inspection and signoff!!!!!!!!!? Whatza .....?
I was flabbergasted!
The aircraft was available, so (containing my concern) I requested and received the keys to the aircraft in preparation for my previously scheduled "flight"! I walked out and began my "preflight" (I had no intention of flying this aircraft). It was soon apparent that both main landing gear boxes had "smoking rivets", indicating looseness and wear of the landing gear attachment. The upper surface of both wings was more than moderately wrinkled outboard of the wing struts from being stretched beyond normal limits, and "smoking screws" were found around both fuel tank covers, indicating continuous movement. The engine mounting appeared normal, but the lower engine mount tubes and nose gear mounting had cracked and chipped paint around their circumference near the firewall and nose gear, exposing unpainted and not yet rusted steel tube, indicating some amount of
recent flexing and bending had occured.
I'd seen more than enough! I went back to the clubhouse and detailed what I'd found on the aircraft's discrepancy report, stating that the aircraft had "obviously suffered a very hard landing" and was no longer safe for flight! This form was required to become part of the aircraft's records (by base regulation), and required a signoff before next flight by a certified A&P mechanic.
I insisted to the Manager that the students and instructor pilots who had flown this aircraft since the incident NOT receive any blame for the aircraft's current condition (which was the custom in such cases, incouraging thorough preflights/postflights). I would keep our prior knowledge (and the identity of the errant instructor) to myself, on that one condition!
In all fairness, none of the "smoking fasteners" would probably have shown signs of wear immediately after the incident. Chipped paint is normal on a 30 year old airplane (but you can tell when it's the result of bending)! All 30 year old airplanes have some wrinkles in the skin (but these were the worst I'd seen on top of the wings).
What really ticked me off was that I was ignored on a potential safety of flight situation, and unsuspecting students and instructors had flown this aircraft since. Had they not noticed the same discrepancies I noted? Maybe they had, but individually, these discrepancies are somewhat common. It's not until you specifically look for the commulative affects of a hard landing that the full extent of the damage becomes evident! I might have missed the signs myself, had I not been experienced in aircraft repair.
I never again saw the instructor who failed to file the report. I've no idea why, but I have my suspicions. The aircraft had both wings deskinned for inspection, resulting in replacing both wings due to bent and damaged main spars. The main gear was slightly bent and required replacement, as did the engine mount. A leaseback, the aircraft was pulled from service and sold at a loss by it's owner after repairs were made by the club.
For me to simply say "Do not leaseback your aircraft!" would carry little weight! I hope this long-winded tale better relays to you my true feelings on the subject. I have more stories if THIS one isn't enough!
Anyway, I quickly forgot the notion of leasing back any aircraft of mine! Ain't gonna happen! Not ever!
