Mounties Air Service fudging the numbers

[Troubleshot]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-pi ... -1.2857234


RCMP pilots flew planes loaded with too many passengers and too much baggage, and fudged the records to cover it up, the public-sector watchdog says in a report released today.

The pilots in some cases didn't log the weight of the plane's fuel when passenger and baggage weight was logged as coming close to exceeding the allowable weight. In other cases, the total passenger weight entered was considered unlikely given the number of people on board.

The RCMP, in its response contained in the report, objected to the public-sector integrity commissioner using the language of "making false entries ... as this suggest[s] a deliberate deception or malfeasance on the part of the RCMP personnel."

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion had to fight the federal government in court to release the report.

In a release, Dion said the report has "findings of wrongdoing" following an investigation into the Ottawa air section of the RCMP.

The report was expected to be significant after the government went to Federal Court to try to prevent Dion from tabling it, arguing it would undermine public confidence in the RCMP. The court dismissed the injunction motion.

The report was supposed to be tabled the week of Nov. 17, but was delayed by the court proceedings.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told reporters Monday that he couldn't comment on the case, but the RCMP would respect the court's decision.

The government's Federal Court application and the integrity commissioner's response aren't being released publicly yet, so there is little available information about the case. But the judge's reasons for denying the injunction are public.

[LousyFisherman]

Fudging the numbers? I'm pretty sure if you or I were to do that we would be in criminal court!

Committed an Illegal act, caught breaking the law would be a more accurate title!

LF

[Troubleshot]

Geez take it easy... just quoting a line in the story. I am not an author, journalist, editor, etc...I just cut and pasted it.

[DareDevil]

what pilot hasn’t fudged the numbers to make it work? its how we all have jobs...

[CpnCrunch]

what pilot hasn’t fudged the numbers to make it work? its how we all have jobs...

Not including any fuel weight is a bit ridiculous though. At some point as a pilot you need to have the balls (or female equivalent thereof) to actually tell your employer/customer to politely F off when they tell you to take off massively overweight.

[Big Pistons Forever]

It is usual not the crime that does you in, it is the cover up........

[CID]

This is a whole lot of nothing that is going to only whip the public into a frenzy of anti-RCMP BS. Overall, the RCMP flight services do a good job and they are safe. If they have evidence of an infraction, charge the pilots and the operator under the airworthiness act and move on.

[CFR]

It's bad enough they fudged the numbers. The frenzy should be about trying to get an injunction to stop the investigation. No wonder the general public have such little faith in the leadership of our public institutions.

[ahramin]

what pilot hasn’t fudged the numbers to make it work? its how we all have jobs...

This pilot. It's really simple to do: Keep offloading bags and pax until you can go without breaking the law, or add in a tech stop.

It may seem strange that RCMP pilots would fly overloaded when there should be minimal pressure and no benefit to doing so. When you consider where these pilots were flying before and what they learned was normal and acceptable practice there it starts to make more sense. It's easy to take a bush pilot out of the bush, but an operator needs to have a solid and sincere professional culture to take the bush out of a bush pilot.

By bush pilot I'm referring to the git er done rules are for fools crowd, not pilots of a certain job description.

[CFR]

Never happened ... Part of the RCMP response.

... Moreover, the RCMP would like to emphasize that it is concerned with language of ‘making false entries” in the OPSIC finding of wrongdoing, as this suggest a deliberate deception or malfeasance on the part of the RCMP personnel. The OPSIC has not considered that AJLs alone do not prove that an aircraft was flown overweight, and did not study the required variables for calculating fuel requirements, such as taxi times prior to takeoff and weather, as well as the path and altitude at which the aircraft was flown. While there were data irregularities and incorrect AJL entries on the part of the RCMP pilots the RCMP does not believe that pilots made these entries through deceptive intent. These issues have been addressed through proactive management action, adopted prior to PSIC’s November 2013 allegation of wrongdoing, and are detailed in the Recommendation response.

[Big Pistons Forever]

The Globe and Mail reported that one of the pilots told the investigators that he " worked the weights backwards to make the numbers work "

If that is true, admittedly a big if when dealing with anything reported by the media, then no amount of language parsing will change the fact that a pilot deliberately chose to fly the aircraft overweight and then hid that fact by knowingly entering a MGTOW in the JL that was lower than the actual weight.

The bigger question IMO is whether this was just a small number of pilots mis guided attempt to " git er done" or whether the organizations culture enabled these kinds of acts.

Either way I would suggest more transparency is the best interests of the RCMP as they are giving the appearance they have bad acts they are trying to cover up. The RCMP response is just waving fresh red meat at reporters.......

[DonutHole]

I believe this is just a part of a report on the overall conduct of the rcmp expected to be tabled soon. I have a feeling the rcmp is in for some (deservedly) bad press. Growing up in the rcmp it's really sad to see how the organization has been gutted and all the cultural changes that come with low morale and no oversight.

There is a cultural issue in the rcmp. Just ask anybody ready to retire from the force. They'll tell you all about it.

[boeingboy]

Did you guys even read the article? I dont think they did anything that doesn't happen every day - part of a larger problem in aviation.

For example: "In one of the flight logs, Dion's investigators found five passengers were recorded as having a combined weight of 399 kilograms (about 880 pounds). Witnesses estimated the two pilots' weights to be about 125 kilograms, or 275 pounds, each, making it "unrealistic" the other three passengers had only a combined 149 kilograms or 330 pounds between them.

On that same flight, where the takeoff weight was entered as just below the maximum capacity of 4,740 kilograms, or 10,450 pounds, the fuel weight wasn't logged"

Hmmm....5 passengers times 170 lbs per passenger = 850 lbs. Seems like they used weights that TC tells us to use - they did nothing wrong. As for a takeoff weight of 10,450 - I have no idea how you would get that heavy without calculating at least some of the fuel.

This just smells of some witch hunt buy some office trying to justify there own existance.

[leftoftrack]

Are POC operator's subject to the newsegmented weights 226 lbs for males?

[Old fella]

The cops are playing with fire and tempting fate.......... you can/will get burned at some point - always happens.

[Jean-Pierre]

Did you guys even read the article? I dont think they did anything that doesn't happen every day - part of a larger problem in aviation.

Exactly right. These are not RCMP cop that become pilots. They are hired from operators where this is the normal and the bad habit comes with them.

What is some motivation? You do fewer flights for one (less time working) and also to help out officers who want to also want to spend less time waiting. Make the passenger happy. No different than previous job.

[PilotDAR]

what pilot hasn’t fudged the numbers to make it work? its how we all have jobs..

After a bit of "I really know better" soul searching, I quit flying jumpers for a club. I explained that I wasn't looking too closely on 50 pounds of fuel, but it was the 345 pounds over gross of people which worried me. The Cessna 185 is a workhorse, but not that way for me. Back in my less informed days, I actually took as credible the journey log entries I saw from other pilots for that aircraft. I began to realize that the fact that they wrote down takeoff weights in the journey log exceeding the maximum gross weight by 250 pounds did not make it safe nor legal. Just evidence which might be used against them!

During testing, I have seen what overweight can do to performance, and handling, if the C of G is not right. It is not for day to day passenger operations....

[plhought]

So I here I am listening to Chee-Bee-Chee this morning; which promised nice gruesome details of a coming report detailing 'wrongdoing' in the RCMP Air Services Sept. They promise it must be good as both the RCMP and the Gov. had fought it's release in the courts.

I was expecting free trips to Whistler for the Commissioner, rampant abuse of schedules and equipment, fully-catered prisoner transfers, ritzy maintenance training in Italy...money wasted yada-yada-yada....

....and it's all just about people fudging weight & balance...Really?!

It's all great to wax-poetics about how I never take off over weight, I never fudge baggage numbers, etc etc.

The reality it's been done everywhere. Don't BS yourself. You may not do it now, or haven't in a while...but its still being done.

[Cat Driver]

Is filling out the W&B portion of an aircraft log book a legal document?

[Jean-Pierre]

If you lie on the logbook it's your but and no one else.
Unless you fly for the feds it seem. Then probably a stern talking to and maybe some paid leave.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Is filling out the W&B portion of an aircraft log book a legal document?

The relevant CAR is 604.38

604.38 (1) No person shall conduct a take-off in an aircraft operated by a private operator unless an operational flight data sheet has been prepared and contains the following information:
(a) the date of the flight;
(b) the aircraft’s nationality mark and registration mark;
(c) the name of the pilot-in-command;
(d) the departure aerodrome;
(e) the destination aerodrome;
(f) the alternate aerodrome, if any;
(g) the estimated flight time;
(h) the fuel endurance;
(i) the weight of the fuel on board the aircraft;
(j) the zero fuel weight of the aircraft;
(k) the take-off weight and centre of gravity of the aircraft;
(l) the number of persons on board the aircraft;
(m) the proposed time of departure; and
(n) the estimated time of arrival.

[Old fella]

Really nothing new here as it relates to the state. In 1979 or 80 a Transport Canada BE90 shed a portion of it's outer wing near YUL at around 2000ft and two people lost their lives. This a/c was a calibration aircraft and the detailed investigation determined these aircraft were being flown over weight at times low level doing abrupt maneuvering lot of the times in rough air. As I understand it(and some may correct me) there was a requirement to inspect fittings on the outer wing spar, think a dye was used as these planes were not really designed for this type of work. It wasn't done, either left out or ignored, anyway bit of an issue and I do believe there was some sort of inquiry for that and other issues of not following the "regs" at the time. Again others may have a better knowledge on this topic...........

[BE20 Driver]

I dont think they did anything that doesn't happen every day.

Sorry Boeingboy, that excuse won't get you out of a speeding ticket. I suspect it won't work here either.

[Big Pistons Forever]

It's all great to wax-poetics about how I never take off over weight, I never fudge baggage numbers, etc etc.

The reality it's been done everywhere. Don't BS yourself. You may not do it now, or haven't in a while...but its still being done.

That attitude is precisely the problem........

[Big Pistons Forever]

Just watching the news. According to the CBC report the RCMP is suing the integrity commissioner in order to get the names of the whistle blowers who reported the what now appears to be the widespread practice of fudging the paperwork so that aircraft could be dispatched over gross.

A central feature of an effective flight safety program is the concept of a "just culture". That is a good faith reporting will not be punished......

A 604 POC requires a functioning SMS system. A just culture is a central tenet of SMS........