The chatter around the office today has me thinking about "risky behavior" as it pertains to piloting. I think everyone knows that the pilots who cut off other planes on base-to-final, do so with no radio calls, and generally muck up the traffic pattern are definitely "risky" pilots. That's a no-brainer. I'm pondering lately things which the plane is designed to catch, and which I see pilots skirting from time to time for various reasons.
Consider this scenario:
You are a pilot who has decided to attend a fly-in meeting. Great idea! The fly-in (let's call it the annual meeting of jerks who cut off other pilots in the pattern -- the good old JWCOOPITP) meets at French Valley airport (another place with "spirited" pattern work on weekends), some 30nm away, at 3pm sharp. It's a 25 minute flight with ease, and it's now 2:30pm -- you're late, and you just received your plane from another pilot which has been flying all day. The other pilot tells you he flew an hour on "topped tanks" (which in a C172, means 8 gallons of the 39 total burned, leaving 31 -- plenty!)
Do you skip the pre-flight?
Do you do a shortened pre-flight? If so, what things do you check? What do you leave out? What's optional?
Let's run down a typical pre-flight checklist (yes, in it's gruesome detail) and think about which things we consider to be:
1. Crucial to flight.
2. Important but not crucial for flight.
3. Trivial.
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Here's a typical checklist:
Cabin
Verify AROW documents
Set parking brake
Fuel gauges - check
Flaps - extend
Fuel Selector - set to Both
Lights - on
Left Wing
Main Wheel - check for inflation and security
Brakes - check for cracks, leaks, and function
Fuel Sump - drain
Cabin Air - check for blockage
Pitot Tube Cover - remove
Stall Warning Horn - test
Fuel Tank Vent - check
Flap - check for freedom of movement and security
Aileron - check freedom of movement and security
Position light - verify green
Empennage
Elevator - check for movement and security
Antennas - check for security
Tail beacon - verify red/flash
Baggage Door - closed/latched
Right Wing
Main Wheel - check for inflation and security
Brakes - check for cracks, leaks, and function
Fuel Sump - drain
Cabin Air - check for blockage
Fuel Tank Vent - check
Flap - check for freedom of movement and security
Aileron - check freedom of movement and security
Position light - verify red
Cowling
Engine Oil Level - check level > 6 qts
Fuel Sump - drain
Propeller - check for security, nicks
Alternator Belt (Lycoming engines only) - verify tension
Air filter - check for blockage
Landing Light - verify on
Nose wheel and strut - check for proper inflation and security
Static ports - check for blockage
Cabin
Flaps - retract
Lights - off
Trim - takeoff setting
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Ugh, I'm tired just reading that. A good preflight can easily consume 15 minutes or more of time -- putting you very late at the fly-in, and costing you serious credibility as a jerk pilot (jerk pilots don't fuss over preflights, I'm pretty certain). Maybe you'll make time for 5 things? What would they be?
For me (and CFIs and pilots can freely disagree with me), my personal 5 are:
1. Fuel
2. Oil
3. Fuel Sumps
4. Control Surface movement
5. Fuel!
I am exceedingly superstitious when it comes to Fuel and Oil. Why? because there is no engineering solution possible for a pilot who leaves with insufficient fuel or oil. I never take anyone's word for the fuel level - ever. I always check it, and as silly as this sounds, I want to see the fuel in the tank. I've even put my fingers in the tank to verify that it wasn't just a shadow. Yes, I'm silly -- but I'm also alive. Let's look at the other things we do. I'll group them in my own personal order of importance. Again, this is just my opinion, everyone will form their own, but I don't think mine are that bad for a start.
Fuel - see above.
Oil - see above. Airplane engines naturally burn oil as part of their cooling mechanism (airplane engines are air-cooled, not water-cooled) -- so burn rates up to 1 quart per hour are not unheard of, especially on hot days. However, if a plane comes back from a 1-hour flight with only 4 quarts in the sump -- start asking questions. Oil leaks, while very rare, are a big deal. I have heard mechanics say that an aircraft engine can run on as little as 2 pints of oil and function correctly. That's Great -- they're on the ground and profit when engines burn up. Take 6-8 quarts with you.
Fuel Sumps - everyone remembers that water is heavier than Avgas. Water settles to the bottom of the tank -- right where the fuel pump pickup tubes are. If there is water in one tank (often a symptom of condensation), chances are good the other tank has it too. Check both for contamination and get it out - engines cannot burn water, and water in the lines can cause an engine hiccup at an inopportune time. Like at 100' AGL on departure.
Control Surface Movement- this includes your aileron, elevator, and flap checks. While some think this is an exercise designed to watch students pinch their fingers, if you've ever seen how concerned your CFI is about the quality of your tenth pre-flight, you'll know this theory is rubbish.
Every flight control surface is connected by not one, but two steel cables which are virtually indestructible. With this sort of redundancy, who needs to check control cables? You do. Redundancy in systems, while great for safety, may also mask certain problems -- for instance, who wants to learn that the aileron "backup" control cable had some slack in it, requiring full-yoke to counteract... on short final? Not you! Move the control surfaces in both directions and verify that the yokes move immediately and synchronously with your movements. This is the only chance you have to verify that both cables are functioning correctly. Any noticeable lag is a reason to ground an aircraft, period. That said, breaking a control cable on a properly pre-flighted plane, should be a non-event, so this is #3 in my list. Some of you might have placed it higher.
For the record, it takes a high-power Sawzall cutter with fine-toothed steel-cutting blade 10-15 minutes to cut a single Cessna control cable. Don't ask how I know that.
Also, do not push on the rudder -- it is connected to the pedals and will not move at all. You can actually stretch the cables by forcing movement on the ground.
Wheels and Brakes - I prefer to have my wheels on cars attached, and the same goes for Airplanes. I look for 3 things, in this order:
1. The cotter/clevis pin. This is the huge brass clevis which holds the wheel onto the spindle. It is splayed on the end to prevent its movement. These things are impossible to remove on purpose, let alone on accident -- but check them anyway. The wheel will not fall off with this pin missing, but taxiing will be very unpleasant with no wheel bearings -- the plane will pull to that side, most likely at an inopportune time.
2. The tire condition. Especially on our planes, which go through tires every 30 flight hours, it is not uncommon to find a bald patch. Aviation tires are 6 or 8-ply thick, but if you can see even one of the underlying plies, ("the skid"), you should evaluate the situation. I also watch the tires when I pull the plane forward -- the skids are very easy to spot on a rolling tire.
3. The brakes. I check these because I am here -- brake fluid is a bright red color, and very easy to spot on white calipers. No, you don't need brakes to land, but if you reach for them and only have one working, you'll do interesting things with your airplane, possibly under a control tower's eye. Better to know up front to avoid unpleasant conversation about your airplane-that-does-cartwheels. Also, we set the parking brake in the cabin first in order to verify the brakes are working -- pull on the plane and see if it rolls at all -- it shouldn't. Neat, eh?
Propeller -- it takes a very large nick in a prop to make it out of balance, but look for it anyway. The entire weight of the plane hangs on the prop -- make sure it's in good shape.
Pitot Tube / Static Ports - this is your airspeed indicator, altimeter, and VSI. Do you need an airspeed indicator to fly? Not really. But what if it's reading 20mph too low? Not so bad, you just land long. What if it's reading 20mph too fast? maybe a stall on the base leg? no thanks!
Altimeter should be self explanatory, but it can be similarly "off". Set it on the ground during run-up, and mistrust it, just in case. If the ground looks 50' away, and the altimeter shows 250' -- trust your eyes!
Nobody neeeeds a VSI, but it sure is handy.
Fuel Gauges -- No, I don't fly on them - I do the math. But a gauge that reads 1/4 before you'd expect it to -- that's information you can use. Maybe you lost a fuel cap, and your fuel is being venturied out. Verify they work on the ground so you can get trend data and act pre-emptively to strange readings.
Fuel Tank Vents -- these seldom get clogged, but if they do, they can create a dangerous vacuum in your fuel tank, preventing the fuel system from drawing. Listen for a vacuum "chuff" when you open the fuel cap to check the fuel level. If it chuffs, you might have a clogged fuel vent, and possibly only half of the usable fuel you planned on.
Air Filter -- yes, you have an alternate air source if this gets clogged, but it's nice to know it's clear and free-breathing. The loss of 100 RPM can equate to 20+ horsepower lost to you in flight, unusable.
Lights -- in the daytime, nobody cares, right? Wrong -- control towers see you by the tail beacon. Ground crews and hold-short traffic see your landing light. I don't think anybody looks at the wingtip nav lights during the day, but why not have them working? In the nighttime, everything is mandatory -- check them for afternoon flights just in case you extend.
Cabin Air -- the worst case here is a hot pilot? Big deal? Yes, and on a cruelly hot summer day, this can be an issue. Where is it hottest in an airplane? Arrival and Departure. When is a pilot's workload highest? Arrival and Departure. Want to shoot that crosswind final approach in 80 degrees with a breeze, or 120 degrees and baking? No-brainer.
Antennae -- COMs and NAVs and Transponder. Do you know which antenna is which? If not, check them all -- these you want working. The rest only concern IFR pilots. (ie, Marker Beacon, ADF, GS receiver) or Search and Rescue (ELT Beacon)
Documents -- You're required to have them. The FAA does random ramp checks. Verify them. Why is this last? Because nobody lost an airplane due to a registration expiring in-flight.
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So, you may have noticed, that of the 15 minutes required for a thorough pre-flight, about 13-14 of them are for important things. You may as well invest the extra 2 and get a thorough peace of mind. After all, 2 minutes might discover something you'd have preferred not to tolerate in-flight... !
Fly safe, and fly thoroughly. And don't be a jerk pilot, however cool their acronyms are.
Everything is there for a reason -- you just haven't learned them all yet! (me neither!)
- Mike
