Falcon 2000
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Returned To Gate; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
This was to be a maintenance flight.  Several inspections have been done by the maintenance crew and include removal and replacing of the left engine. My Pre-flight was uneventful.  It took 2 1/2 hours. Engine start was uneventful and we then taxied to run up area. Completed run up of both engines.  Completed all checklists to include thrust reverser check.  When all necessary ground checks were completed we called for takeoff with tower. Tower told us that Washington Center has shut down and no AIRCRAFT would be allowed to depart. The tower controller instructed us to taxi back to the line and await further instructions. I taxied back to the flight line and shut down. During post flight; a 2 foot long yellow plastic ribbon was found hanging from the thrust reverser between the engine cowling and the front of the thrust reverser. This was quite unusual.  The plastic ribbon was taped to the inside of the clam shell and was not noticeable on pre-flight. When we actuated the thrust reverser on Taxi; The ribbon dropped down and the clamshell closed leaving the ribbon to hang outside the engine Cowling.  Obviously; the maintenance technicians who worked on the airplane and installed the engine and thrust reverser forgot to remove the plastic ribbon when they completed their work. Inspectors; Technicians; and quality control personnel missed the foreign object inside the clamshell. The crew did not see the foreign object on preflight because it was inside the thrust reverser; an area the pilots never see.  Everyone knows that humans make errors; that's why we have inspectors and quality control technicians and maintenance check pilots to ensure that mistakes are caught.   The pilots did not fly this airplane only because Washington Center had shut down and we were not allowed to take off. If we had taken off; we would've had a yellow ribbon trailing behind the left-hand engine.This repair facility seems to be rushing their maintenance on airplanes. There's a lot going on inside the hangar. Maybe things need to slow down some in the maintenance department. I am a Maintenance pilot and my job is to inspect and fly Falcon 2000s that come out of maintenance anywhere in the world. Every time I come here I find at least three non-flyable squawks on the airplane after it has been released for Flight. This is unacceptable. The maintenance department needs to square away their Quality control and start putting out safe airplanes. After an airplane is released from maintenance; the maintenance pilot should not find any safety issues with the airplane.  This incident wasn't a big deal; no one got hurt. But we may not be so lucky next time. Retrain retrain retrain. Inspect inspect inspect. Correct correct correct.
A DA2000 Maintenance Test pilot reports accepting an aircraft out of heavy maintenance and performing an extensive preflight before starting and taxiing out. After taxiing out and more checks; takeoff clearance is requested from the Tower. The Tower advises that the airspace is closed by the Center due to weather and the crew taxies back to the ramp. On post flight a yellow plastic ribbon is found hanging down and taped to the inside of the clamshell thrust reverser.