True and this accident has happened to my hangar neighbor which he barely survived. Window was covered in opaque oil minutes after departure and he landed short trying to come back. Aircraft was totalled.
I do check the oil before every flight but thinking from a pure risk assessment perspective, I could skip that. If the oil was gone, there would be a puddle under the aircraft. I know the consumption of the engine and the safety margin is plenty.
What I don’t do is check the fuel for water unless the aircraft was parked outside. I know that in the last 30 years in my hangar, there has not been water in the fuel so I avoid dealing with the stinky and unhealthy fuel.
Does any of you pull the prop through (on something other than a Rotax) to check for compression feel and mag coupling clicks?
bookworm wrote:
if you:
- check that nothing is tied to the aircraft (including pitot covers etc.) and the controls are free of locks
- check that the fuel supply is sufficient and not contaminated
then you’ve probably eliminated most of the major risk that you can eliminate.
When I had just acquired my PPL, I was doing the preflight of one of our club’s Cessnas. While I was checking everything, my instructor asked my passenger: “Has he finished his 200h inspection yet?” in his usual dry tone. I actually still find that pretty funny.
Eliminating “most of the major risk” is fine, but then, you could still miss the odd thing that may or may not kill you. On one rented Skyhawk, we heard a scratching noise inside the wing when you moved the aileron. Stuck a phone inside to take pictures, and the control cable was half fractured where it passes through a hole, with single wires sticking out. I don’t know if it would have held for another hour of flying, but I preferred not to try it. Why not move the control surfaces quickly, it takes only a few seconds.
And then I heard of someone who failed his CPL checkride due to missing a bird’s nest on top of a Seminole’s T-tail during the preflight.
Regarding the original question, I always verify the exhaust by trying to move it, and I try to look inside the engine compartment however well it is possible on that model of plane. But if I have to unscrew a lot of screws to take a look, I say screw that. I don’t pull the prop through either, on a club plane you never know if the person before you really checked for a hot magneto.
Rwy20 wrote:
And then I heard of someone who failed his CPL checkride due to missing a bird’s nest on top of a Seminole’s T-tail during the preflight.
That’s what the runup is for, no?
achimha wrote:
That’s what the runup is for, no?
Probably that was that pilot’s line of defense, but I doubt that it worked.
I guess the nest was lovingly placed up there by the examiner, he probably wanted it back and not blown wherever at runup ;)
I at least would not like to do a flight in a plane that has been standing around for long enough for birds to build nests on, especially not for a check ride!
I’ve seen too much (on other planes) to do just the fuel etc.
A PA38 with bare wires about to break off and touch something, make a spark and set off a fuel leak.
Various fuel leaks.
A litre of water in the fuel tanks (PA38 again).
I normally pull the prop through to check for compression. Also if the aircraft has been sitting for a while, it frees everything up which should make the life of the starter motor easier.
One thing I don’t get is when people do not do a fuel check for contamination, it takes 10 seconds to do and it could really ruin your day if the fuel is contaminated.
Callum wrote:
One thing I don’t get is when people do not do a fuel check for contamination, it takes 10 seconds to do and it could really ruin your day if the fuel is contaminated.
If my plane was in my personal locked hangar and is not used or touched by anybody else, I do not see the point of spilling poisonous avgas over my hands for a check that cannot reveal anything. If any of the above factors are not present, I would always check it.
Next Q: if a 2015 C172 has 10 drain holes and a 1979 C172 has 2 drain holes, why don’t you immediately add those missing drain holes? You could be missing contamination…
achimha wrote:
If the oil was gone, there would be a puddle under the aircraft.
Not if it’s disappearing in flight!
