It was but a puff of smoke, it smelled of burnt oil, and I guessed it was from a leak onto the exhaust.MichaelP, this is the first time I have read one of your posts and thought you were off the mark. If you have enough smoke in the cockpit that you are doing a non-standard circuit(low level) to come back to land, you have an emergency.
But it was strike two, and I was never happy with the maintenance there.
I was once asked in passing about the stabilator on a Seneca... The starboard hinge was shot and you could rock the tip up and down... "F*** in H***" I said, I was shocked and told them not to fly that aeroplane.
Do people not realise how quickly flutter can remove a control surface? That whole stabilator is held on by two small bolts.
My brother looked at a Cessna 172 that was being used to fly kids. He was shocked by the amount of corrosion on it.
I have not flown this company's aircraft since my incident, and I would avoid flying some of them.
There's no excuse.
I see many companies in the Lower Mainland take ropey old Cessna 152s and overhaul them to as new condition and do an excellent job.
If the aeroplane does not look like it's being properly maintained take your business to one of the schools that is trying to do the job properly.
Boundary Bay does get it's share of "Maydays", people go outside when the hear the fire trucks arrive here, and they grade the subsequent landing of the common caller... it's nearly always a Seneca with gear trouble!
