Thorough Pre-Flight..reminder

[TWinter]

This is old habit to many, but every once in a while we all find ourselves doing a "quick" pre-flight. Just a reminder..there is no such thing anymore for me as a quick pre-flight.

 

The other day I was doing a pretty thorough pre-flight the day before our Gulf Shores trip. Since my other half is not a big fan of flying and gets really nervous when flying outside her local flight comfort zone I thought I better make sure everything is perfect for our trip to Gulf Shores.

 

I did my normal preflight and some extra wipe-down (we wanted the Mooney to make a good showing at Jack Edwards)...

 

Anyway cutting to the chase...I was checking the tire pressure and wiping around the nose and belly. As I wiped around getting some oil residue off the cowl flap a bolt fell onto the hanger floor. The cowl flap just dropped freely about 8"..just hanging there. The cowl flap retract rod had also come disconnected. Closer examination was that a nut that was supposed to be on the end of the bolt that holds the retract rod to the cowl flap had come off at sometime and the bolt was just barely holding the rod connected to the cowl flap through slight tension pressure with no nut. The gentle wipe of my rag pushed the bolt out and the cowl flap flopped down and the retract rod was just hanging disconnected.

 

I'm sure any taxing or flight time would have worked the bolt out and the cowl flap would have dropped flapping in the wind. I assure you I have stepped my game up on pre-flight inspections. Just glad I was home and had access to finding the correct hardware. Would have sucked at 7000' feet  and the cowl flap fall and flap down. It would have scared her to death and certainly caught me off guard. Not to mention having to make temporary repairs in the middle of nowhere. Moral to the story..Thorough Pre-Flights from here on in.

[WardHolbrook]

This is old habit to many, but every once in a while we all find ourselves doing a "quick" pre-flight. Just a reminder..there is no such thing anymore for me as a quick pre-flight.

 

The other day I was doing a pretty thorough pre-flight the day before our Gulf Shores trip. Since my other half is not a big fan of flying and gets really nervous when flying outside her local flight comfort zone I thought I better make sure everything is perfect for our trip to Gulf Shores.

 

I did my normal preflight and some extra wipe-down (we wanted the Mooney to make a good showing at Jack Edwards)...

 

Anyway cutting to the chase...I was checking the tire pressure and wiping around the nose and belly. As I wiped around getting some oil residue off the cowl flap a bolt fell onto the hanger floor. The cowl flap just dropped freely about 8"..just hanging there. The cowl flap retract rod had also come disconnected. Closer examination was that a nut that was supposed to be on the end of the bolt that holds the retract rod to the cowl flap had come off at sometime and the bolt was just barely holding the rod connected to the cowl flap through slight tension pressure with no nut. The gentle wipe of my rag pushed the bolt out and the cowl flap flopped down and the retract rod was just hanging disconnected.

 

I'm sure any taxing or flight time would have worked the bolt out and the cowl flap would have dropped flapping in the wind. I assure you I have stepped my game up on pre-flight inspections. Just glad I was home and had access to finding the correct hardware. Would have sucked at 7000' feet  and the cowl flap fall and flap down. It would have scared the her to death and certainly caught me off guard. Not to mention having to make temporary repairs in the middle of nowhere. Moral to the story..Thorough Pre-Flights from here on in.

I believe that the single biggest lesson that I've learned in 15,000 hours is that whenever I find myself in a hurry or rushing, I need to slow down and proceed at a very measured and deliberate pace. You do not save any meaningful amount of time by rushing through things and the risk of missing something significant increases significantly - a lesson that, unfortunately, I've learned on more than one occasion. 

[Piloto]

Make sure the aileron link nuts are of the self locking type. If the nuts comes off you end up with a jammed aileron.

 

José

[Hank]

I once found a bolt inside the lower cowl, laying in a low spot between the cowl flaps. Turned out to be an alternator mounting bolt . . . Could have made for interesting flying in IMC had I not seen it.

[BigTex]

I once found a bolt inside the lower cowl, laying in a low spot between the cowl flaps. Turned out to be an alternator mounting bolt . . . Could have made for interesting flying in IMC had I not seen it.

I've found bolts there as well. Mine were the through bolts that holds the right mag together. My ex A&P disassembled my mag so it would be easier to install it after an IRAN... Never tighten them up.

[DaV8or]

I have grounded several planes because they failed the pre flight inspection. The most recent was two weeks ago the rental Piper Warrior I was to do my BFR in. It was gushing oil out of the #2 oil return line from the cylinder. The oil was streaked all down the side of the fuselage. Funny thing was, the CFI I was with didn't even notice the oil on the fuselage. We did the ride in a Skyhawk instead. I later found out the return line fitting was really loose. Had it unscrewed all the way, we would have likely lost all the oil in the course of the flight.

 

My very last flight in my plane, during the pre flight, I heard a snapping sound when I raised the elevator to the full up position. I had never heard it before, so I investigated. I finally isolated it to the rear through bolt on the elevator control attachment. It had come a little loose and was shifting when pushed to the full up position. After inspecting the sheet metal, the rivets and the solid block between the skins and finding nothing askew, I pulled the cotter pin, tightened the nut to the next cotter pin hole and installed a new cotter pin. Problem solved.

 

I have been a proponent of a complete pre flight every time for over a decade now. You just have to do it. These planes of ours are actually pretty fragile and live a life of extremes. Every time they fly, they are trying to beat themselves to pieces. They are not like your car. They come loose, go out of adjustment and things fail all over the place. At least that's my experience.

[omega708]

Back in the "rental days" I was performing my standard pre-flight on the 'ol PA-28 and found that someone had dropped an 8 inch phillips screw driver in the front of the cowling.  It landed with the tip wedged in the alternator pulley.  I'm pretty sure it would have been pretty exciting had I started the engine with that screwdriver in there.

[flyboy0681]

Wouldn't it be great if we could simply open the cowl and look around before starting?

[omega708]

Wouldn't it be great if we could simply open the cowl and look around before starting?

It would be nice indeed.  Unfortunately, the placement of this screwdriver meant that you couldn't see it any other way than looking into the clow air inlet next to the spinner.  I found it doing my normal "hand inspection" of the belt on the front of the engine.

[WardHolbrook]

I have grounded several planes because they failed the pre flight inspection. The most recent was two weeks ago the rental Piper Warrior I was to do my BFR in. It was gushing oil out of the #2 oil return line from the cylinder. The oil was streaked all down the side of the fuselage. Funny thing was, the CFI I was with didn't even notice the oil on the fuselage. We did the ride in a Skyhawk instead. I later found out the return line fitting was really loose. Had it unscrewed all the way, we would have likely lost all the oil in the course of the flight.

 

My very last flight in my plane, during the pre flight, I heard a snapping sound when I raised the elevator to the full up position. I had never heard it before, so I investigated. I finally isolated it to the rear through bolt on the elevator control attachment. It had come a little loose and was shifting when pushed to the full up position. After inspecting the sheet metal, the rivets and the solid block between the skins and finding nothing askew, I pulled the cotter pin, tightened the nut to the next cotter pin hole and installed a new cotter pin. Problem solved.

 

I have been a proponent of a complete pre flight every time for over a decade now. You just have to do it. These planes of ours are actually pretty fragile and live a life of extremes. Every time they fly, they are trying to beat themselves to pieces. They are not like your car. They come loose, go out of adjustment and things fail all over the place. At least that's my experience.

Very well said.

 

Now I've got a question for you...

 

You own a Mooney, why did you take your BFR in a Cherokee? 

[DaV8or]

Wouldn't it be great if we could simply open the cowl and look around before starting?

 

YES! That is one feature Piper and if IRCC, Grumman got right!

[BigTex]

Back in my aerobatic days, I was preflighting a Decathlon and when I was checking elevator movement when I heard a bang and the elevator locked in the up position. Turns out that mechanic was working on the battery and left a wrench in the back where the battery is located. When the guy flying the plane ahead of me was up doing some hammerheads the wrench fell down and lodged in the tail section. Pretty sobering preflight inspection. Still gives me chills thinking what might of been.

[Andy95W]

Very well said.

 

Now I've got a question for you...

 

You own a Mooney, why did you take your BFR in a Cherokee? 

I agree.

I would be reluctant to give a BFR to someone who didn't want to do it in his own airplane.

[WardHolbrook]

I would be reluctant to give a BFR to someone who didn't want to do it in his own airplane.

I am too. I don't want to sound like I'm picking on Dave - from his posts, he seems like a very conscientious pilot - but I honestly feel that you need use your "daily driver" for your BFR. Granted, there may be legitimate reasons not to such as when you get an additional rating or "killing two birds with one stone" by using specialized training such as a tail wheel endorsement or basic aerobatic training in conjunction with the BFR. In that case, the pluses of the additional special training more than make up for the minuses of not taking your BFR in type. But the bottom line is this - If you own a complex, high-performance single or twin it's utter foolishness to take your BFR in a simple, basic ASEL, even though it might be completely legal, it's not smart. A smart pilot would get regular refresher training in every type aircraft that s/he flies on a regular basis. As a general rule, we need more training not less and a basic BFR every two years is not enough.