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The Vice President and General Manager, Aircraft Division, to whom both the quality control personnel of the service department and the inspectors of the production department report, deleted the requirement for quality control of certain items which were to be inspected during the normal work accomplished by the production department. In this instance the company records do not reflect the issuance of an O & IR which is used for this work, and none was ever found. The General Inspection Supervisor for the electrical work of the production department testified that none of his inspectors was involved in the inspection of the electrical work performed on N804LJ during the modification.
The FAA-designee inspector working on NE804LJ stated at the public hearing that on October 18, he certified the aircraft airworthy for test flight only. An FAA Form 337 for the major repair and alteration of aircraft was completed on the same date. The test pilot scheduled to fly the aircraft on October 19 testified that during the preflight walkaround inspection the left tip tank fuel pump was inoperative. The preflight was discontinued until this was corrected. When the aircraft was again announced as "ready", the walkaround inspection was completed but during the engine check prior to takeoff he ". . actuated the two nacelle (heat) switches and shortly thereafter smoke was observed coming from the forward bulkhead just forward of the pilot's seat . . the warning lights illuminated and the aircraft started to pressurize. I immediately turned off all of the electrical equipment and returned to the ramp " The discrepancy was discussed with line personnel and Pilot David. The test pilot observed some wires with diagonal burn marks while mechanics were working on the annunciator panel, and assuming this was the difficulty, left the general
