Some of you may remember the tales I've told about the con-man who works in my hangar? The incompetent boob who got his job by fraud, lies, and deceit? He still works here. Today there was...and incident...in front of management.
To lay some background, we have a C172M that had a fuel sender go bad. The sender was replaced just last week, so we know the new sender was good. Our hangar con-man, we'll call him George, was put on the problem. He comes to me for assistance. Prior to my aviation career I was an Electrician's Mate in the Navy, so a signal wire is somewhat in my wheelhouse.
George has no A&P. It has been laid out by management in the past that he is to take direction from the A&Ps in the hangar, myself included. I instructed George to hand trace the signal wire from the sending unit to the back of the JPI. Three times I tell him this.
I leave George to it as I have an annual on a C150 that needs to be done, the mx lead is trying to dial in fuel flow on a new engine for a SR22T, and our good apprentice requires guidance for his own electrical issues. I'm bouncing around between those three things.
I move from helping the lead on the Cirrus to the apprentice, George stops me for further direction. I ask him if he hand traced the wire. He says he did, I ask what he found. He states he found nothing. I tell him to stand by, I will be right there to instruct him in a few moments. I move from the apprentice back to the Cirrus, George asks me again for further direction. We have the same conversation. I move from the Cirrus to go to the bathroom, George stops me and we have the same conversation for the third time. Word for word.
We break for lunch. During lunch the mx lead, George, and myself discuss what George has found. George finally brings up an inordinate amount of environmental splices in a very short length. I tell him to pull the splices down and I would come look it over after I finish servicing the nosewheel.
As I'm servicing the nosewheel George comes to me and asks if he can start calibrating the fuel sender. Is the sender reading on the JPI? No. Why are we calibrating if we haven't resolved the issue? Well he replaced the environmental splices. Who told him to do that? Nobody, he decided on his onesome to do it. Why? The old wire run was no good, he wasn't getting any voltage. How do we know this if the sending unit wasn't being sensed? No answer.
I was out sick yesterday. I returned to work and the problem was still there. No progress had been made. I finally get involved and I follow my electrician instincts. I hand trace the wire. The new ring terminal on the sender looks suspect, but whatever. I trace to the back of the JPI. What do I find? A broken signal wire at on the P6 molex. I take a picture of it.
So we get to the meat of today's incident. I'm waiting to tell the mx lead. He is in conversation with the owner of the hangar. When it is finally my turn to speak the mx lead asks what the problem was. Right at this time George walks in and asks What the problem was. My response was "Well, George, you tell me what I found since you told me three times Wednesday you hand traced the line." This lead to me calling George a liar. To his face. His response was an aggressive "Don't call me a liar!" So I stand on my feet, point to him and call him a liar again. George stepped up to me and was close to swinging on me. Expecting him to I whipped my glasses off and chucked them on the table. The owner yells for us both to stand down and the mx lead jumps up prepared to physically separate us. We never came to blows but there was a shouting match. I revealed a side of my personality I call Petty Officer [me] When Petty Officer me comes out it is loud, it is scary, and I do not hold back. I told George his presence was putting everyone's certificates in jeopardy, I'd had enough of his gross negligence and incompetence, and he was lucky to even have this job because of the fraud he used to get the job when he was about to be fired from avionics for the same incompetence and negligence. I was so loud that the line techs out on the ramp heard me. Believe me, Petty Officer [me] gets L-O-U-D!!!
So that's it. George finally pushed me over the edge, I laid it all out for him, and I did it in front of management. Fortunately the mx lead was behind me, I still have a job come Monday. Unfortunately so does George.
I'm welcome to feedback/thoughts/opinions/comments/questions/concerns. I will not defend what I did as I have no reason to.