Showerthought: a pilot told me he trusts the guy who signs off the logbook more than the plane itself
Was doing a walkaround on a King Air at a hangar in Wichita last week and the pilot standing next to me said that line while he watched me check the gear pins. At first I laughed it off, but then I thought about how many squawks get pencil whipped when a plane needs to fly and nobody wants to be the one who grounds it. The scary part is he was not wrong at all, because a plane will tell you something is off way before a lazy sign off ever will. Curious if you all have ever refused to sign something off and caught heat for it, because I am wondering how often that actually happens out there.
So basically he trusts a guy with a pen more than a machine worth millions, and honestly same. I have seen squawks get signed off fast enough to make your head spin when a charter is waiting, and the guys who push back get treated like they just canceled Christmas. The plane does not care about the schedule though, it will just quit on you at the worst time if nobody spoke up.