On heavies....A Bombardier Challenger 604, Martin did an r & r of a pane, not windshield, but next pane, which was a sandwich of Glass, Arcylic and thin Mylars....in 2002, the part alone, not labor, was 85 K. Thats Just a Challenger, i dont even have a guess at what a windshield replacement on a 777 or Airbus would run....not both wind shields....solo.......ill wager a 1/2 mil...good chance its more. A Lear 30 series is about 80 k to replace both stretched acrylic, double laminate windscreens....over an inch thick. Airframe Must be jigged before removal, because the plex is part of structural integration......lot of money in repair, decraze, but with 250 bolt holes, and with prism can only see one half of each hole.....not me baby......they are worth 3-4 k a side to repair.......but nope, if an IA, wants to sign me off, ill do it cheaper, but im never signing my own name....unh uh......some times the panes are already 20 plus years old......too much fatigue risk....if crazing is any more than ten thousandths, i stay away completely. Nothing illegal about non certified mex working on aircraft, as long as IA supervised and signed off......if there is a failure, and accidents, deaths are involved, the head hunters are out to put blame on somebody.....FAA, NTSB backtrack whole history of A/C.
47 Bravo Alpha, the 'Chartered' Lear 35 that golfer Payne Stewart & four others died in in 2000, i knew that bird well....used to take care of Brightwork on Her...for outfit that owned in Cali, before Bird went to charter outfit in Florida.....initially the Feds were all over the People i did work for, and they wete backtracking way beyond us.....turned to the present owners, negligent maintenance.....had replaced a Y valve in pressurization/engine bleed air system just before fated flight...one on each motor.
.....plane depressurized on climb out, probably around 30, 000 ft.....chest just caves in at that altitude, death was immediate...had heading already punched into auto pilot, but not altitude, so it searched between 15 k & 50 k alt, windows froze over, under military escort until ran out of fuel over North Dakota.....this is my problem with their thinking. ...instead of blowing plane out of air..since down zone was 'unihabited', they let it crash....wtf about the real estate and animals that DID habitate the area......better to kill them than waste a missle??!!
The other error, though it doesnt really matter, Pilot forgot to turn on emergency oxygen, which has to be done on ground by opening bottles in nose. Depressurizing at 30 K,, they wouldnt have been able to suck the oxygen in. The media of course f-ed this all up, leading the public dummies to believe that the cabin oxygen wasnt turned on....oy vey........cabin pressure works off outside air compressed & regulated......anything to sell stories.
Idjits.......
Di Not Ever Get on ANY airplane without considering possible consequences BEFORE HAND...NEVER take anything for granted ..EVER.....its Your bed, if You choose to get in it.....machines are man made, maintained by fallible humans. Every time i get on an airplane(no rotors for me babe)i wrap myself around the idea that this might be the time **** happens, am I willing to accept the risk?? Life is about accountability, not seeking to place blame elsewhere. This was a cut & dried case of maintenance error......sometimes investigators simply do not come up with enough conclusive evidence to determine what happened......it is not an exact science........i get in an accident, just as much my fault as anybody elses......my fault for putting my fate in someone elses hands...period.........accountability for my own actions. Its just like going through a checklist, assess the possible outcomes.....before taking action. Apparently, im not dead yet.
