Originally Posted by
dojetdriver
As a TRI/TRE how much actual line experience did you get? Yep, when those planes are shiny and new the coat rack (E/P brake lever) will literally fly out of your hand once you pull it out of the on position if you don't have a good grip on it. My former company was the largest operator of the jet type, as well as put the most hour/cycles on them of any operator. And guess what? After they all get used up and bent, the springs that would pull that lever forward weren't quite and "springy" after a while. Hence the lever sometimes not releasing fully, or being able to be bumped in flight due to it's poor location.
Were you on the prop or jet? If I remember, the hydraulic system was one of the differences.
I flew almost 5000 hours on the turboprop version, if time matters. Our highest time member of the fleet had about 35000 hours on it when I left the company, and it's still flying. Our average sector length was 45 minutes, so you could say that "shiny and new" may not be quite suitable anymore. But nothing is impossible, and you may certainly have a point there. All I'm saying is that until yesterday I haven't heard about a case of inadvertent E/P brake lever movement in flight in this type. And if that lever was not released fully before taxy, it would be very hard to get it moving, wouldn't it?
You are right about the difference between the prop and the jet. The prop had one main system and one auxiliary sytem. The two were connected through the E/P brake. By selecting a manual selector valve and pumping with a hand pump hydraulic fluid could be transferred in case of a loss of the main system.