They say that a lot can happen in the last month of probation at any given company and so far, its has all but been true for me in the last week of flying. From having a fuel leak (at the gate good thing) to spotting a knick on one of the fan blades on the right engine, all these flights of late are just full of little surprises.
I had a chance today to fly a charter flight which included flying the aircraft to Louisville with only 1 person onboard who was the charter coordinator, then to Gainesville, FL with 30 people who consisted of the 
Florida Gators Womens’ College Basketball Team, coaches and assistants and then back to Atlanta with just the flight coordinator. Food and drink was provided so the flight was extra awesome. There were just a few things though that made my list of quirky. Here’s what the WX looked like on the way to Louisville (KSDF).
For one, while I was running around the aircraft doing my inspection preflight prior to leaving for Atlanta from Gainesville, it was when I noticed that one of the fan blades on the right engine had a small knick in it. It definitely didn’t look good at all, so I called the captain and he too agreed that it was a good find and that we should probably do something about it. We don’t have a maintenance facility in GNV, but someone was able to come out 40 minutes later and take care of the issue. It was basically written off and to be looked at for when we got back to Atlanta. That was that and it was really that simple. But, there were thoughts of get home-itis and I prevented them from reasoning out the situation. It was a good thing and proved to be of no incident. We couldn’t even have been sure if it just occurred or if it had always been there but hidden because of the blades position. 
You see, the blade was at a 12:00 position when I noticed the problem, but when I was pre-flighting it at the other stations, I never saw anything. There isn’t any proof that we caused it or anything, but bottom line is that I saw it that one time and that it was to be determined by us the next steps in solving the problem. Here is a picture of the fan blade.
I’m home now and am just writing about what happened tonight, but I feel like I’m going to learn quite a bit in the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!
