Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
I think you're right, most know to look for that first if the plane fails to pressurize. I wouldn't think they'd swap planes in FLL if it had been that simple. Although I wasn't there and the sucky thing about the lever is like several other things on the plane there is very little difference in switch position between ON and OFF depending on which angle you're looking at it from.
Really you just have to moleste that plane. You know, feel it up. Otherwise, you'll miss something. Its a life lesson... that you shouldn't apply heavily.
It's funny you mention that. We had a plane that we were flying with a deferred APU. When I was doing my preflight of the overhead, I saw that the APU/Fire Cont switch was in OFF/AGENT ARM. The writeup a couple days earlier was that the APU wouldn't crank at all. We brought a mechanic out who reset the switch and the breakers and it miraculously worked!! We looked at the book again and came to the conclusion that one of the rampers on a layover at an outstation shut the aircraft down incorrectly. The plane flew for days without any crews noticing the switch was out of position. There are just WAY too many dang switches in that cockpit. You really do have to molest that plane when preflighting!