Narrative:

I'm writing this report in response to a first flight I took as a new hire captain for [company] and their maritime surveillance program. I arrived the day prior; and had conducted required aircraft specific and other training stateside prior to arriving. Upon arrival; I was told by the other captain that I would be replacing; that the aircraft was heavy or something to that effect. After an informal briefing regarding planning the flight; we met the next morning for the ride into work. After a brief walk around; and comment about the auxiliary fuel gauges being off; I checked the aux tank levels visually to then learn the comment was about the 'other company aircraft'. I sat left seat as the pilot flying and the other pilot who filed the flight plan as PIC was giving me the orientation to the mission flight sat right; offering to do the radios. As we were getting ready for start I asked where is the weight and balance; with the other pilot signaling it's in the back and I don't want to see it. In hind sight; I should have just refused to go on the flight; but being a new guy and new to the operation and this other pilot; I continued with the flight.I started the engines and we had a red warning 'left bleed air' light. The other pilot indicated it was known and in a non-critical area of the left gear. He then popped the light out on the panel; saying now it's gone; another red flag. Being this non-standard definitely caught me off guard. Again; wanting to play ball at this new job and part 91 operation; I suggested we operate then with all bleeds in environmental off mode as to cautious. I should have pressed the issue more; but I didn't even get fully briefed up on the aircrafts history of safety gear for that matter by the PIC.we flew the flight on an IFR filed flight plan; which was an assigned mission track to look for boats in this designated search area. We were in contact with ZZZZ1 tower with position reports for most of the flight on tower and HF; along with another facility in the area. The requirement was to check in every 30 minutes with an ops normal call and position reports for our ETA for designated points along our defined route. I believe the other pilot filed for a block altitude; however; due to the search radar issues; and clouds; we spent a lot of time at 1;500 AGL/indicated altitude. When a boat was found; we then proceeded to fly to it; performing a descent and cross-controlled maneuver to position the aircrafts camera to capture images on 3 sides on the ships I believe. During this maneuver; I struggled to hold the 1;000 ft. I was told to fly; with 800 ft. Being the lowest I dropped due to having a hard time maintaining the full rudder I was being told to use.after the 4 plus hour flight; and 3-4 boats detected and flown to; we landed back in ZZZZ. Then I proceeded to gather the aircraft books; and looked for the required onboard documents. I then started down the path of trying to confirm the weight & balance and make sure this aircraft that I was supposed to be taking over as PIC and as a single pilot captain; was in compliance. I felt complacent or weak in my part 91 regulations knowledge; as I had spent many years flying part 121; and as a contractor overseas; but ignorance is no excuse. I'm sure knowing the regulations better would have also served me better in my previous flying; but I was determined to make sure I was flying safely and legally. After running the numbers using foreflights west&B section; it was clear we were overweight; but by hundreds of pounds beyond the maximum takeoff weight of 12;500 [pounds]. This made me question everything about the other pilot; mechanic and operation in general. The known discrepancies were not properly placarded in the cockpit; I didn't understand what life vests we had or needed for the over water operation; and the other pilot told me he hadn't always written up discrepancies and that he knew the aircraft was overweight and even heavier whenthe entire crew and gear was loaded onboard to transient to the next island for the new mission areas. The first and only flight I took was on a [day]; and the next week brought phone calls and emails disclosing the basic empty weight was transposed incorrectly; the aircraft had a burning smell from a bad fan; the bleed issue was finally resolved; the air-conditioning wasn't working in this very warm climate; and the only way to legally fly the aircraft was to take over 300 pounds of unnecessary stuff off the aircraft and even then; with 2 pilots and 1 aft crew; we would need to reduce the fuel to less than full to make the weight.in conclusion; I asked many questions; and never received access to the aircraft logbooks or records beyond a 2 page discrepancies log. Lax attitudes and records; along with an error with the bew and willingness to fly overweight to meet a 5 hour mission profile or long transients over water seemed unprofessional to me. In my opinion; the aircraft needed to be written up for flying over its maximum weight for what appeared to be about a year; needed a thorough inspection and should be reweighed. Various feedback to me seemed to indicate the chief pilot were ok with operating that way; so I asked to return back to the us and I never performed another flight after that first one.that being said; I did participate in an overweight flight; with the FCC radio license missing (later that week a copy was provided) and I deviated from the IFR position reports to perform the flight maneuvers required to get pictures of the boats. Looking back; we could have told ATC the new lat and long of the boats and requested the lower altitude; while still conducting the mission requirements. Why that didn't dawn on me as being an option during the flight; well I regret it. Deviating from a known track; looking at a boat; and then rejoining it; clearly is not acceptable in a nonradar IFR setting. Lesson learned! I hope this report helps others that are eager to join a new opportunity in a beautiful location; and reminds them that the venire and setting on the outside could be masking the fact the operation is illegal or has no morals.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot flying a special mission reported that they learned of several FAR violations for the aircraft and operation.

Narrative: I'm writing this report in response to a first flight I took as a new hire Captain for [Company] and their maritime surveillance program. I arrived the day prior; and had conducted required aircraft specific and other training stateside prior to arriving. Upon arrival; I was told by the other Captain that I would be replacing; that the aircraft was heavy or something to that effect. After an informal briefing regarding planning the flight; we met the next morning for the ride into work. After a brief walk around; and comment about the auxiliary fuel gauges being off; I checked the Aux tank levels visually to then learn the comment was about the 'other company aircraft'. I sat left seat as the Pilot Flying and the other pilot who filed the flight plan as PIC was giving me the orientation to the mission flight sat right; offering to do the radios. As we were getting ready for start I asked where is the Weight and Balance; with the other pilot signaling it's in the back and I don't want to see it. In hind sight; I should have just refused to go on the flight; but being a new guy and new to the operation and this other pilot; I continued with the flight.I started the engines and we had a red warning 'left bleed air' light. The other pilot indicated it was known and in a non-critical area of the left gear. He then popped the light out on the panel; saying now it's gone; another red flag. Being this non-standard definitely caught me off guard. Again; wanting to play ball at this new job and Part 91 operation; I suggested we operate then with all bleeds in Environmental off mode as to cautious. I should have pressed the issue more; but I didn't even get fully briefed up on the aircrafts history of safety gear for that matter by the PIC.We flew the flight on an IFR filed flight plan; which was an assigned mission track to look for boats in this designated search area. We were in contact with ZZZZ1 Tower with position reports for most of the flight on Tower and HF; along with another facility in the area. The requirement was to check in every 30 minutes with an ops normal call and position reports for our ETA for designated points along our defined route. I believe the other pilot filed for a block altitude; however; due to the search radar issues; and clouds; we spent a lot of time at 1;500 AGL/indicated altitude. When a boat was found; we then proceeded to fly to it; performing a descent and cross-controlled maneuver to position the aircrafts camera to capture images on 3 sides on the ships I believe. During this maneuver; I struggled to hold the 1;000 ft. I was told to fly; with 800 ft. being the lowest I dropped due to having a hard time maintaining the full rudder I was being told to use.After the 4 plus hour flight; and 3-4 boats detected and flown to; we landed back in ZZZZ. Then I proceeded to gather the aircraft books; and looked for the required onboard documents. I then started down the path of trying to confirm the Weight & Balance and make sure this aircraft that I was supposed to be taking over as PIC and as a single pilot Captain; was in compliance. I felt complacent or weak in my Part 91 regulations knowledge; as I had spent many years flying Part 121; and as a contractor overseas; but ignorance is no excuse. I'm sure knowing the regulations better would have also served me better in my previous flying; but I was determined to make sure I was flying safely and legally. After running the numbers using Foreflights W&B section; it was clear we were overweight; but by hundreds of pounds beyond the maximum takeoff weight of 12;500 [pounds]. This made me question everything about the other pilot; mechanic and operation in general. The known discrepancies were not properly placarded in the cockpit; I didn't understand what life vests we had or needed for the over water operation; and the other pilot told me he hadn't always written up discrepancies and that he knew the aircraft was overweight and even heavier whenthe entire crew and gear was loaded onboard to transient to the next island for the new mission areas. The first and only flight I took was on a [day]; and the next week brought phone calls and emails disclosing the Basic Empty Weight was transposed incorrectly; the aircraft had a burning smell from a bad fan; the bleed issue was finally resolved; the air-conditioning wasn't working in this very warm climate; and the only way to legally fly the aircraft was to take over 300 pounds of unnecessary stuff off the aircraft and even then; with 2 pilots and 1 aft crew; we would need to reduce the fuel to less than full to make the weight.In conclusion; I asked many questions; and never received access to the aircraft logbooks or records beyond a 2 page discrepancies log. Lax attitudes and records; along with an error with the BEW and willingness to fly overweight to meet a 5 hour mission profile or long transients over water seemed unprofessional to me. In my opinion; the aircraft needed to be written up for flying over its maximum weight for what appeared to be about a year; needed a thorough inspection and should be reweighed. Various feedback to me seemed to indicate the Chief Pilot were OK with operating that way; so I asked to return back to the US and I never performed another flight after that first one.That being said; I did participate in an overweight flight; with the FCC radio license missing (later that week a copy was provided) and I deviated from the IFR position reports to perform the flight maneuvers required to get pictures of the boats. Looking back; we could have told ATC the new Lat and Long of the boats and requested the lower altitude; while still conducting the mission requirements. Why that didn't dawn on me as being an option during the flight; well I regret it. Deviating from a known track; looking at a boat; and then rejoining it; clearly is not acceptable in a nonradar IFR setting. Lesson learned! I hope this report helps others that are eager to join a new opportunity in a beautiful location; and reminds them that the venire and setting on the outside could be masking the fact the operation is illegal or has no morals.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.