PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 300; Flight Crew Total 700; Flight Crew Type 700
Other / Unknown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Company Policy; Human Factors; Staffing; Aircraft
My coworker was flying passengers from ZZZZ to ZZZZ1. We work for [Company]. He was flying his last outbound flight of the day. He got to 1;500 MSL (cruising altitude for our route) and heard a loud bang as half of the cowling ripped off and struck the bottom right windscreen. The cowling flew back and struck the horizontal stabilizer on the right side; causing it to move inward toward the fuselage and crush the fuselage on the left side. The half of the cowling that came off went into the ocean. Earlier that day; the Maintenance team had the cowling removed from the airplane to fix an oil leak (which they didn't tell the pilot ferrying the aircraft until he arrived to ensure he would fly it over). It appears they did not properly re-attach the cowling. Prior to that fight; our President walked around the plane to preflight for a training flight and saw no discrepancies. My coworker (the PIC during the incident) [advised ATC] and returned to ZZZZ to land. There were three passengers on board. No injuries. After the incident; [President] asked the pilot if he was sure it wasn't a bird or drone strike. The pilot spoke to me in confidence that he is positive it was not a bird or drone strike. We don't get many birds at 1;500 feet MSL and there is no blood. Management counters this and states there is; but it appears to be rust or airplane fluids. The pilot has two more months of his contract and 200 more hours to build with another job lined up and a family to think about. He doesn't want any trouble; as pilots are told explicitly not to [advised ATC] here by Management; Management is trying to get him to go along with the bird strike story and he is afraid to resist. The airplane was flown multiple times since Maintenance worked on it earlier that day with no issues. This exact incident has happened to this airplane; Aircraft X; previously as has been mentioned by a Dispatcher. We have an FAA Inspector coming within the next couple of weeks (not for this event but he is just coming out) and employees can sense pressure on management to cover this up ASAP.I believe Maintenance failed to properly put the cowling back onto the airplane. This has happened before; as mentioned. We have one A&P Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic at [Company] and that is our President. The workers (mostly family members of the Director of Operations) in the hangar do the work; [President] signs off on everything. While I believe this is technically legal; we do have a lot of airplanes and it leaves a lot of mistakes up to chance. If we had more A&P's; things like this may not occur. [President] and the pilot also failed to see any issues before flying the aircraft. This; I believe; is either due to complacency since we fly so much every day or perhaps it is not an issue that could have been seen except by a mechanic. [Company] is adamant about only having airplanes in Maintenance according to the maintenance schedule. They plan ahead when each airplane will be 'down' for events program. The pilots are told explicitly by the Director of Operations that if they refuse to fly an airplane they will be fired. Management does everything in their power to make sure planes fly no matter what until that time (for example Aircraft Y failed it's mag check every morning for weeks; ultimately it had a 500 RPM mag drop with a rough running engine; flames coming out of the engine; and the prop began to spin the opposite direction; but Management refused to get the plane into Maintenance and/or 'could never find a problem.' They tried to have a pilot fly 70 NM on a cargo flight with said plane. The mags got changed two weeks and many flight hours later during its scheduled event). Over all; our Maintenance department has a lot of problems with communication and is disorganized. There may not be enough oversight and sometimes it appears they lack the support they need.
Employee at air carrier reports management intimidation; falsification of reports and unethical maintenance practices.