Disabled Saab in IAH
 

Was taxiing out to 15L today and saw a Saab in the pad, with a bus taking pax to the terminal, and a tug attached. just curious what might have kept them from returning to the gate under their own power.

Not a Colgan plane, no way:rolleyes:

A loss of nosewheel steering would do it.

Actually, it wouldn't. The tiller (NWS) is an MEL'able item on the Saab.

I bet 9 out of 10 Colgan captains have never taxied without using the tiller though.

i do it all the time, usually the tiller sucks and its just easier to not use it...

A loss of nose wheel steering, due to a Hydraulic problem, would definitely do it.
I think that's what you meant.

Nosewheel steering is an MEL item, but having it fail on a taxi due to unknown causes, even with a remote chance it's related to hydraulics, is discretionary to the captain.
Good judgement would be to error on the side of caution though and get towed in, but every situation is different.

Yeah, I bet you're wrong; in fact, I'd imagine it would be the other way (9 out of 10 HAVE taxied w/out the tiller). I used to do it all the time when I was on the Saab. It's easy and sometimes, smoother to not use it. :)

But if it is a Hydraulic problem, then you would be correct, that's not such a good thing then. :o

I didn't know the SAAB had a tiller. I thought it was steered by the pedals.

This FO has taxied many times w/o the tiller, may arm does not reach that far. It is not hard and good practice and kind of fun when you are bored.

My bet on the Saab is they shut the left side down and no bus tie..so no hydraulics to taxi. The only other thing I can think of is the nosewheel did a 180 which I have seen before, looks freaky like that UFC fighter who broke his leg.

I've never flown a saab but I did have to bus my pax back to the gate when I flew the Brasilia. A brake was dragging while we taxied and a fuse plug blew. Kinda hard to drag a plane with a flat tire. Took 80%+ torque just to get the thing off to the side of the taxiway. Made some nice skid marks though!!

You don't need the left side to taxi. Override works just fine. My point about the 9 out of 10 captains is based on the fact IOE instuctors didn't teach it several years ago. Maybe it has changed. I do know some of the street captains had their FOs taxi so they would be able to when they upgraded.

If IOE instructors only knew half the things we did after they cut us loose they'd.......oh wait they did those things too!! Can I get a 'Direct Start' brotha!!

I've dumped most of my Saab system knowledge, but if I remember correctly, if there was no bus tie, there still would be hydraulics via the OVRD switch position on the hydrauic pump. It operates off the battery bus, not the left gen bus as it does in auto mode. However, a complete failure of the hydraulic pump itself of course would be good reason to stop.

Of course there are many other reasons to stop as well. Whatever the case, better safe than sorry.

What I meant.

Not always. There are a couple of pilots who have been called in for making safe, but unprofitable decisions. It seems safety takes a close second to completion factor.



Voting ends 2pm EST on Wednesday 17 December.

Yes, always. I don't care what management wants when it is contrary to safety. If they threaten you, that's when you go to the FAA. If your decisions are in the interest of safety, you have a leg to stand on.

Don't ever let management weenies strong arm you into a bad decision.

Well spoken IQUITEAGLE ...

SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY first!! ... I don't give flippin rat's a$$ what management says or does to me in the event I have to make a call that would cease the operation of an aircraft for safety reasons. If they really want to attack me for making a call that would end up saving the lives of 34 pax + 3 crew let them at it, and bring in the FAA ... let's see who wins that fight. In the event I would loose my job because I made a call like that, I would much rather do that than loose my license because I was an idiot and continued on with a known problem that affected the safety of the flight.

The problem is your girl (S. Bax.) has been calling captains for every aborted takeoff and questioning the validity for the abort. She had the nerve to question a captain for an abort after a TailPipe Hot on the roll.

Again ... I stick with my previous statement ... I don't give a sh1t what anyone says about a call I make to keep a plane full of people safe. If I have to make a call that grounds an airplane, so be it. Every situation is unique to that specific flight, and the captain that makes the "go/no-go" decision is in charge with no limitations to his authority. These Saabs are old and things do happen with old planes ... especially ones as complicated as these.

Yes but where does she get off making these calls and questioning a decision. If it is a widely agreed bad decision (see captain flying to IAH after losing an engine after t/o at CLL) then the CA needs to be reprimanded. To "monday morning quarterback" every captain about every abort is ridiculous and even more reason for a.....wait for it.....

UNION

I completely agree with you. A captain has the final authority over his/her aircraft, but if the decision made is widely agreed upon to be a bad decision then they should be reprimanded. That example you listed is a perfect one. But, every decision should not be questioned.

Union was what I was going for. Just a reminder that having someone in the pilots' corner makes it easier to make the correct decision.

NWS is driven off one of the left buses so w/o the bus tie on it wouldn't work. I had her call me about a gate return because the right side ahars wouldn't initialize. I just ok'd her to death. I'd do the same thing again.

Just remember you dont answer to S.B.:rolleyes: There's a reason why she's back.

That's a perfectly legitimate reason to do a gate return.. you cannot takeoff without both AHARS working properly ... now if one of them failed on the TO roll, that might be a different story. IMHO you definitely did the right thing. A gate return is a hell of a lot better than an aborted TO