Flight Crew reported a Stall Fail Caution message after take off and continued to destination airport. A piece of speed tape covering a static port was not noticed during the preflight walk around and was later discovered as having caused the malfunction.
Synopsis
Flight Crew reported a Stall Fail Caution message after take off and continued to destination airport. A piece of speed tape covering a static port was not noticed during the preflight walk around and was later discovered as having caused the malfunction.
Narrative
After takeoff we received the STALL FAIL caution message; at a safe altitude I swapped the controls to the FO (Flight Officer) and completed the QRH for the message and elected to continue to ZZZ. After the flight was over I wrote up the mechanical irregularity in the [Maintenance Log] and terminated the aircraft. Later I was informed by my First Officer that he had received an email from the oncoming Captain explaining that ZZZ line Maintenance had discovered a piece of speed tape on one of the static ports and this was likely the cause of the irregularity. The missed item on the walk around was the cause of the mechanical irregularity; it was hypothesized that the tape had been left on from a previous maintenance procedure.I have learned that during irregular operations such as a repositioning flight; it would be prudent to have both flight crew members do an external inspection to ensure no items are missed. It would also be beneficial to brief the importance of a thorough walk around after maintenance has been performed on the aircraft.
Second reporter narrative
We got to the aircraft to do a reposition flight. When we got to the aircraft the gear pins were still inserted into the landing gear which my Captain and I both thought was odd. Due to this I made a note to myself to be extra attentive on the walk around. I did my walk around as I usually do. Everything was fine until about half way through the flight. We got a stall fail indication. We ran the procedure and added 10 kts. to our ref speed. We landed fine and wrote up the stall fail message. Later that night I got a message from the Captain that flew the aircraft after us explaining that Maintenance found a piece of speed tape on the Captain side static port. I must have missed this during my walk around.I believe the cause of this event was a number of factors. First; this was my first reposition flight and my flow of everything was just a bit off. I also believe that the speed tape was white and since we were on a [white aircraft] it must have blended in with the white paint. I always make a deliberate effort to check the pitot tubes and static ports during every preflight inspectionObviously I missed the tape and that should not have happened but Maintenance also left the tape on the aircraft. The white paint paired with the white tape creates a situation where this becomes something that is easy to miss. I must take more time doing the walk around it seems. Perhaps if the static ports were a different color; this situation would have been easier to avoid.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.