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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Work the Valet at the casinos. You will be amazed. Pickups with dead gators in the bed, lots of cars with mechanical issues.

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Originally posted by BigSwede:
Front brakes work, where is your sense of adventure?

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Originally posted by sns3guppy:

I asked him about the flight control rigging. He told me that it wasn't a problem, just needed "a little rudder to fly," which is an idiotic thing to say.

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Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Not a brake, or car, but same principle. I was asked to work on a drop zone's Cessna back-up airplane to prepare it for an annual inspection. When I checked the rigging for the flight controls, the ailerons, I discovered that it was rigged to only turn one way. That is, the control yoke in the cockpit would only go one direction, as it was fully thrown to one side, with the controls in neutral.

I asked the regular jump pilot about it; he said it had only flown about nine hours that year, so didn't seem a problem.

I said "You mean someone actually flew it?"

Yes, he replied. But we only do left turns, so no problem.

I noted that a logbook was missing, and called he mechanic who did the last annual inspection. The mechanic told me he still had the logbook. The airplane is worthless without the logs, so I told the mechanic to bring them over. He showed up, but wouldn't step onto the property. I had to meet him at the gate. He was reluctant to give up the log (it had the sign off for the inspection he'd done, making him liable).

I asked him about the flight control rigging. He told me that it wasn't a problem, just needed "a little rudder to fly," which is an idiotic thing to say. I asked how he could sign the airplane off as airworthy, as it obviously wasn't. He told me that I didn't know how to fly, or I wouldn't consider it a problem, and he drove away.

He's not alone; someone like him has worked on something you've flown or driven in, whether you knew it or not. Lazy, idiotic, cheap, and large in number, whether mechanics or owners or operators, they're a large tribe and they are out there.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:
Question for Guppy: Would that be worth a conversation with an inspector from the FSDO?

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Originally posted by YooperSigs:
In my cop days, I would stop people for blowing through red traffic signals. When I asked them why they made no effort to stop, an amazing number of them said:
"Well, my brakes dont work all that well so I did not try to stop".
Me: "So... You are telling me that your vehicle is so unsafe that you cant stop for traffic signals"?
The "no brakes" answer usually generated a ticket!

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Originally posted by henryaz:
 
I drive a manual Tacoma, and I have disabled the pesky clutch safety switch. I always tell the service person to warn the mechanic. If it is off and in gear, turning the key to on will move the car. We used to use this "no safety switch" feature on older cars by using the starter to bump them to the shoulder when disabled.