So this is what I have ferretted out to date:
Every vendor that Baltia uses has to be accreditted (approved) by the FAA and must be added to Baltia's list of approved vendors in order for Baltia to have any dealings with them (at a minimum, imagine what damage could be done to an airplane by a cheap, unapproved faciltity that uses terrorists as their employees......).
After the last non-passed mini because of an improperly packed slide, the FAA required that Baltia use another facility to pack their slides, and approved a facility in Florida. The slides were trucked out there last week.
Now, the problem here is that the FAA has to be present when those crates are opened/closed/shipped/received/etc. (again, imagine some idiot tries to slide a b#$b inside a packed slide)....and Monday was a Federal Holiday.....so by the time everything was pulled together, the best Baltia could do was get those re-packed slides flown in from Miami late yesterday. They raced like hell to get those slides properly mounted and were ready by 10 PM by the skin of their teeth.
Its cold, the FAA has been hanging around all day and they are growing tired, and a few little things came up (like some portable heaters weren't working, etc.). Any one thing would not have influenced their decision, but a combination of rushing to get the slides installed, really cold people, and the fact that the fuel wasn't evenly distributed.....well....they figured it was better to hold off on the mini (so as not to waste Baltia's $ repacking the slides) and just re-schedule. The truth is that all next week the FAA is out on mandatory training, so even if they moved the mini to the first week in February, the reality is that it only delays the schedule by a few days at most (think about it - the FAA is on mandatory training all next week!).
As for the importance of balancing the fuel in the wings?
Keep in mind that the fuselage is flexible (ever look out at the wings while your flying and see them "flopping" in the wind?). If the fuselage were rigid, it would shatter under stress (like dropping a glass bottle on the sidewalk) rather than bend and flex and stay in one piece.
For that reason.....fuselage flexibility... there was a concern that an uneven distribution of fuel could result in a slight twist to the fuselage, and the fear was that even the slightest twist could result in a door misaligning and not opening properly.
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (rushing to get things done, very cold and very tired people after a very long day, fuel unevenly distributed, etc.) ....and the fact that moving the mini to the first week in February only delays things by a mere few days....the FAA made the very wise decision to halt the mini before Baltia wasted tens of thousands of dollars (repacking each slide is at least $5,000, and there are 10 slides on N706BL, and that doesn't include the cost of removing, shipping, and putting them back in place).
We may all see this as a huge dissapointment (and by "all" I mean investors, FAA personnel, and Baltia employees alike, just to name a few), but the truth is that this was a very good decision and a mere hiccup in the process when all things are considered.......................
Every vendor that Baltia uses has to be accreditted (approved) by the FAA and must be added to Baltia's list of approved vendors in order for Baltia to have any dealings with them (at a minimum, imagine what damage could be done to an airplane by a cheap, unapproved faciltity that uses terrorists as their employees......).
After the last non-passed mini because of an improperly packed slide, the FAA required that Baltia use another facility to pack their slides, and approved a facility in Florida. The slides were trucked out there last week.
Now, the problem here is that the FAA has to be present when those crates are opened/closed/shipped/received/etc. (again, imagine some idiot tries to slide a b#$b inside a packed slide)....and Monday was a Federal Holiday.....so by the time everything was pulled together, the best Baltia could do was get those re-packed slides flown in from Miami late yesterday. They raced like hell to get those slides properly mounted and were ready by 10 PM by the skin of their teeth.
Its cold, the FAA has been hanging around all day and they are growing tired, and a few little things came up (like some portable heaters weren't working, etc.). Any one thing would not have influenced their decision, but a combination of rushing to get the slides installed, really cold people, and the fact that the fuel wasn't evenly distributed.....well....they figured it was better to hold off on the mini (so as not to waste Baltia's $ repacking the slides) and just re-schedule. The truth is that all next week the FAA is out on mandatory training, so even if they moved the mini to the first week in February, the reality is that it only delays the schedule by a few days at most (think about it - the FAA is on mandatory training all next week!).
As for the importance of balancing the fuel in the wings?
Keep in mind that the fuselage is flexible (ever look out at the wings while your flying and see them "flopping" in the wind?). If the fuselage were rigid, it would shatter under stress (like dropping a glass bottle on the sidewalk) rather than bend and flex and stay in one piece.
For that reason.....fuselage flexibility... there was a concern that an uneven distribution of fuel could result in a slight twist to the fuselage, and the fear was that even the slightest twist could result in a door misaligning and not opening properly.
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (rushing to get things done, very cold and very tired people after a very long day, fuel unevenly distributed, etc.) ....and the fact that moving the mini to the first week in February only delays things by a mere few days....the FAA made the very wise decision to halt the mini before Baltia wasted tens of thousands of dollars (repacking each slide is at least $5,000, and there are 10 slides on N706BL, and that doesn't include the cost of removing, shipping, and putting them back in place).
We may all see this as a huge dissapointment (and by "all" I mean investors, FAA personnel, and Baltia employees alike, just to name a few), but the truth is that this was a very good decision and a mere hiccup in the process when all things are considered.......................
