Screws in a box
Personally, all I have to deal with is the paperwork for my car and house. Oh, and taxtes etc. But whenever I drop by at Mike’s office, I can see the tons and tons of folders and manuals that come with operating a helicopter. It’s amazing! Of course, those are complicated and sensitive machines and it’s good that there are regulations in place for them. But it’s one of the less known facts that you probably spend more time in the office than in the cockpit as a helicopter pilot.
Oh, and you can’t read it, because the image is scaled down for our website, but at the sheet in the bottom right corner it says “Caution! Wear protective gloves when operating screwdriver!”
Try ordering a valve for the nuclear industry applications. The valve fits in an UPS van, the documentation needs at least a 24 wheeler…and thats just the tap for the loo used by the perimeter guards!
Every aspect of aviation is burdened with tons of excess paperwork and regulation. When I was a flight test engineer for the gov, we had a saying, “We can’t fly the airplane until the weight of the paper exceeds the max gross. ” -T-Bear
@ Matte: Good idea! I’ll try and order some nuclear industry valve and see what happens!
@ Tumbling Bear: Was that just a saying or was that an official government regulation? 😉
Our helicopters are good to go then. Being fairly old, their paperwork certainly exceeds their max gross!
Protective Gloves for operating screwdriver? Could this be the result of “lawsuit-a-phobia”?
Such ponderous quantities of safety instructions is solely due to the fact there are many “Chucks” in real life. You must bury them in regulations so that they have no opening to say “I was not told that” when they screw something up doing something stupid.
According to Paul Brickhill in his biography of Group Captain Douglas Bader. When he was a Pilot Officer, Bader and the other pilots of 23 Sqn RAF were told by their CO – following the death of another 23 Sqn pilot who was doing low level aerobatics, “Well you know my view about some regulations- there written for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.”
In military aviation they have to over do it with the publications. Despite there being a book explaing even the most insignificant detail, things still get done incorrectly. We litterly have technicial manuals that exceed the lifing capabillity of our aircraft. I guess we will have to start taking on less fuel so we can carry more manuals!
Boeing says that no aircraft can leave the factory until the paper used exceeds the MGTOW of the aircraft . . .