New postby mtv » Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:04 am
Interesting...that control on every Beaver I've flown was safetied, and would take a pretty hard yank to get it shut off.....someone REALLY wanted that camera bag bad, and really had their head up their butt."


The Emergency Fuel Shut Off lever is secured with breakaway safety wire. I always assumed it would take a pretty hard pull to close it, but it doesn't. After this accident I got the OK from the mechanics to pull the lever when one of the Beavers was in for maintenance. I was shocked how little effort it took to close it. The safety wire breaks and doesn't really seem to do anything. The pilots asked the DM to use heavier wire to secure the handle (all of us assumed if the plane was on fire we would have adrenalin squirting out of our ears and no problem pulling the lever) Apparently the light/break away wire is all they are allowed to use for that application.

If your flying a Beaver I suggest you take the opportunity to pull that handle sometime when the plane is in maintenance.

Might be the same light copper break-away safety wire we use. I think it's .0056"? It's on our door jettison handles. I just got to re-install a door today after an electrician doing an MOC grabbed the jettison handle to adjust himself in the seat. Sent the door clattering to the ground and didn't figure out why until I had him help me put the pins back in, haha. "This is why we can't have nice things!"

2000 hours in the DHC2 and I never pulled that handle. Always thought it was pretty tough wire. Now I know....
Did have the oil cap come loose inflight though.... that made a mess.
And that heater would melt your tennis shoe soles if you weren't careful.
Loved that plane.

I had a VIP passenger once in the right seat and more of the same in the back.

Guy in right front seat pulled that oil filler cap off and out while we were in flight. I saw it coming out the corner of my eye, but too late. A huge glop of really nasty looking W100 oil came out of there and drooled down his pant leg. I looked at him, he looked at me, and he replaced the oil filler cap without a word. Back to watching scenery slide by.

I never did ask him why he did that.

Great airplane indeed, and I never pulled that safetied handle either.

MTV

I know a guy that was doing a check ride in a Beaver on floats. The check airman in the right seat was wearing hip boots with the tops folded down. Apparently the loose top of the hip boot snagged the oil filler cap and it came off. They were doing take off/departure stalls, very high angle of attack, and didn't notice it came off for a few minutes. When I saw the plane the mechanics had it out of the water and were cleaning out the oil. They even had the tail cone off and were wiping oil out of the end of the fuselage! What a mess! The mechanics were kind of surly for a while.

Part of my flow for every engine start is Fuel Valve Down & Safety Wired, Oil Cap Secure.