Certificate of Airworthiness

My mom decided that at the age of fifty she wanted to get her pilot's licence.  We used to joke that she'd be flying acrobatics when she was eighty.  In 1974 my parents bought a beautiful Cessna 172 with wheels and floats.  It was the Halloween Special, painted in Orange, Black and White.  And if I recall correctly, painted as such because it would be better to spot if it ever crashed.  My memories of flying with both of them are deep and very gratifying.  My dad and I used to go fishing early Saturday morning to some little lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and be back home by breakfast with a fresh meal in hand.


Aircraft of all sorts are only allowed to be flown legally with a current and "in effect" Certificate of Airworthiness (COA).  As Medical doctors, my parent both became registered to conduct annual physicals for pilots.  A type of annual airworthiness certificate for the pilot.  There are significant rules around these processes and procedures.  And for good reason.  When a plane falls out of the sky, people and property are lost - forever.


So how is it that something as important as a BOP in the gulf spill scenario had not been inspected since 2005.  That would seem to me to be a major oversight by the operator and the regulators.  A piece of equipment that is that important had not been inspected for five years?


I have listened to people that argue that we don't stop flying when a catastrophic event occurs.    While somewhat true, there certainly are events that cause the industry to re-examine their processes.  I also do not believe we should completely stop drilling from offshore resources.  But when the pilots and the maintenance mechanics are not doing their jobs as they know they should, then things have got to change.  Either the people or their vocation cannot remain as it was.  As needs to be the case in the offshore drilling.  The people have to do their job to the best of their ability, uncluttered by time and cost overruns, and other issues that cause serious incidents when processes and procedures are ignored.  People die and property is seriously (and sometime irreparably) damaged.  That is unacceptable and needs to be cause for serious change in how this business is conducted.

Hearings: Rig's blowout preventer last inspected in 2005

By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune

May 26, 2010, 12:28PM

This is an update from the joint U.S. Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service hearings in Kenner Wednesday into the explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, which killed 11 workers and created the Gulf of Mexico oil spill currently fouling Louisiana's coast. In addition to periodic inspections by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, Deepwater... Full story »

Comments (5)

 

Recommend (0)