COMMERCIAL PLT TAKES DELIVERY OF A C402 FOR FLT TO FLORIDA. HE FAILS TO CHK ALL THE PAPERWORK; ACCEPTS THE POORLY RUNNING ENGS AND FLIES THE ACFT WITH MULTIPLE STOPS TO DEST ARPT; FLL. ON ARR HE FINDS THAT THE PROP SPINNER IS CRACKED AND THERE IS NO AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATE FOR THE ACFT. HE ADMITS TO BEING UNDER PRESSURE TO DELIVER THE ACFT.
Synopsis
COMMERCIAL PLT TAKES DELIVERY OF A C402 FOR FLT TO FLORIDA. HE FAILS TO CHK ALL THE PAPERWORK; ACCEPTS THE POORLY RUNNING ENGS AND FLIES THE ACFT WITH MULTIPLE STOPS TO DEST ARPT; FLL. ON ARR HE FINDS THAT THE PROP SPINNER IS CRACKED AND THERE IS NO AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATE FOR THE ACFT. HE ADMITS TO BEING UNDER PRESSURE TO DELIVER THE ACFT.
Narrative
THE EVENT CONCERNS THE DELIVERY OF A C402A FROM PORTLAND; ME; TO FT LAUDERDALE; FL. PREFLT INSPECTION AND CHKS REVEALED NO MAJOR FLAWS AND THE RESIDENT MECH PROPOSED THE ACFT TO BE AIRWORTHY AND READY FOR DELIVERY. THE ANNUAL SHOWED TO BE 4 MONTHS OLD. DOCUMENTS PRESENTED SUPPOSEDLY CONTAINED ALL THE NECESSARY PAPERWORK. THE ACFT WAS PREPARED FOR DEP WITH THE REQUIRED FUEL. NO PROBS WERE NOTED ON THE PRE-DEP RUN-UP. UPON DEP IT WAS NOTED THE ENGS WERE RUNNING ROUGHLY AND THE PWR SETTINGS WOULD NOT STABILIZE. NORMAL PROC WOULD HAVE BEEN TO RETURN TO THE AIRFIELD AND HAVE THE ITEMS CHKED. I WAS UNDER PRESSURE TO DELIVER THE ACFT AND OPTED TO CONTINUE. I STOPPED IN PORTLAND DUE TO WX AND MADE SOME VISUAL CHKS BUT COULD NOT DETERMINE WHAT THE PROBS WERE. I CONTINUED THE FLT TO NORFOLK; VA; AND STILL THE PROBS CONTINUED. UNDER FURTHER PRESSURE TO CONTINUE TO JACKSONVILLE; FL; AND ON TO FT LAUDERDALE; FL. UPON LNDG IN FT LAUDERDALE I FOUND THE PROP SPINNER ON THE R ENG CRACKED WITH A LARGE PIECE MISSING. I ALSO FOUND THE PAPERWORK CONTAINED NO AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATE. I FEEL THESE PROBS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED AND SAFETY BETTER SERVED BY NOT YIELDING TO PRESSURE TO DELIVER AN ACFT AND BY MORE THOROUGH PAPERWORK AND PREFLT CHKS. I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO DO BOTH OF THESE THINGS IN THE FUTURE.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.