One reads a lot about the required placards that have to be installed in aircraft. The TCDS (type certificate data sheet) lists exactly what placards need to be installed where. Apparently that is quite important in FAA land and checked at various times.
I get the impression that it is less important in Euroland. Most aircraft have some placards but I have rarely seen one that has all the placards spelled out in the TCDS (or the local equivalent). Looking at the TCDS for my aircraft, I find that at least half of them are missing or are slightly different.
I have never seen IAs get overly concerned about the placards during an annual. I think for an owner flown aircraft, they are just ugly, annoying and stupid. What's your experience?
No its a disease in the UK as well.
There was a tiger moth that offered pleasure flights and therefore required a AOC. The CAA insisted on placards with the word exit.
It open cockpit it's f*****g obvious
As it was a legal requirement that I could fill without neither much bother nor great cost, I duly printed a little sheet of paper which is now taped to the dashboard. Have to wait what inspectors think of it - if any ever come along. There are advantages to flying low-profile...
Definitely required in Italy, one of the first things the inspectors check.
Well, I am responsible for a great number of placards. I require them because I have little faith that pilots read the flight manual, and there are some important things I would like them to know about the plane they have decided to fly (or at least I don't want to be responsible for them not being able to know!).
I have flown many planes which were either missing placards, or never had them but should. How about a Lake Amphibian I ferried for 12 hours. I know that I filled the main tank, and the two wing aux tanks. I was up, and well on my way, watching the fuel gauge go down as it should. I wanted to use some of the aux fuel that I knew I had put in, and darned if I could figure out how.
I took the time to read every placard, and look at every control, then read the Flight Manual (which I really should have done first!). It said that their were wing aux tanks, but not a word as to hoe to use the fuel. After an hour and a half of this nonsense, and now actually needing to know that I could use the fuel, I phoned a friend, and honoured up that I was carrying fuel I could not figure out how to use.
He explained that the aux fuel would self drain when the main tank got so far down. Who knew? But, he agreed that there was NOTHING to tell the pilot this! Placard would have been a really good idea!
But the most relevant experience I have had, and have posted before was this:
Bill and I were ferrying a Cessna 303 from Canada to England, for delivery to it’s new owner. With lots of Cessna 310 and 340 experience, I felt extremely comfortable flying the 303, and off we went. This particular aircraft was very well equipped, with full IFR equipment as one would expect, and full known icing equipment. So there we were, flying in IMC, though often with a view of the ground, but picking up ice. No problem, I just selected on all of the deicing equipment, and had a look around the aircraft to assure that is was functioning. The boots on the wings, and just the very tips of the horizontal stabilizer could be seen, and I was able to confirm that they were operating as expected. Obviously, the boot on the vertical fin could not bee seen, and this was an act of faith.
After a while, and while obviously picking up some ice, a slight twitch in the yaw axis developed. It was about what you’d feel if you were alternatively pushing the pedals a little. I looked over at Bill’s knees, and asked, “Are you playing on the pedals down there?” But as I asked, I observed that his knees were still, so this was not his doing. Next I scanned the engine instruments – they indicated that the engines were both purring. The twitching in yaw got a little worse, and was now noticeable in pitch as well. Whatever it was that causing the twitching was making be nervous. When I’m nervous, I like to be closer to maneuvering speed (Va), in case something unexpected happens. So, I pulled the power back, and began to slow down…
As the plane slowed, we were suddenly rodeo riders, the plane was yawing and pitching violently, though roll control was prefect the whole time. Yaw was ten degrees either side uncontrollably, and pitch, though harder to estimate, was enough to give us quite a variation in “G”. Whatever the problem, slowing down made it a lot worse, so I sped up, and it settled down. The only thing it could be was airframe ice, nothing else would seem to have changed since we took off. But this was a known icing certified aircraft! So I flew as fast as I could, knowing that whatever it was, was getting worse, and we were still in the ice. At the higher speed, anything bad which happened, would happen worse, and faster! I had to get out of the ice.
We were able to descend, flying up the valleys in the mountains, not far from Wabush, Labrador. We were lucky enough to find warmer air, and the ice slowly shed on it’s own. An hour or so later, I landed in Shefferville, Quebec for fuel. Of course, slowing down, was an exercise in extreme caution. But the plane handled perfectly. The after landing visual inspection revealed no ice, or other defects at all. Mystery… Our trip continued….
Bill was flying the leg from Iceland to Scotland. I was bored. Searching for some new stimulus, I found the previously unread flight manual for the aircraft, and browsed. Among the commonly found white pages, was an uncommon fluorescent red one. To it’s corner, stapled a tiny zip lock bag, which contained a placard. My interest was peaked now (better late than never). The information on the page instructed that flight into known icing conditions was prohibited, and at the first encounter, an immediate 180 degree turn was to be executed. The placard in the zip bag simply said “Flight in icing conditions prohibited”. Well that was clear! But, with the placard in the bag, and the bag in the book, and the book in the glovebox, the pilot (who had not bothered to read the book prior to flying) had no way of knowing! To read on, it turns out that because the Cessna 303 has a “crucifix” tail, meaning the horizontal stabilizer is mid way up the vertical stabilizer, their respective leading edges form a cross. The middle of this cross was not deiced, and thus a block of ice would form there, and disrupt the smooth airflow over the tail. The result was (in several cases) fatal inflight breakup of the aircraft, due to loss of pitch and yaw control. This, I could imagine! This flight manual page, and placard were required by airworthiness directive 86-01-01.
The final instruction on the page was to install the placard. I did.
I understand that soon an electric pad was developed for installation on the offending leading edges, to correct this design deficiency.
I learned from that to read the flight manual before flying. I don’t know how close we came to breaking that plane up in flight, but it was a lot closer than we should have come!
If these placards are required as per the POH and TC why didn't the manufacturer install 'proper' ones in the first place? I hate the ones that people have created on their PC and stuck on with sticky tape!
why didn't the manufacturer install 'proper' ones in the first place?
My experience has been that placards are always available as "parts" from the parts catalog, and easily obtained through the normal source for parts for the aircraft. When I redid the interior of my 150 years ago, I ordered all the placards from Cessna parts no problem. When I redid the Teal this spring, I was very lucky to obtain a complete original placard set, and these are "proper" anodized aluminum ones, which will last a lot longer than I will!
However, when I specify a placard, I simply say that the following placard must be placed so as to be legible to the pilot. My reason for that is that it meets the requirement for certification, but allows the aircraft maintainer/owner have a choice. Some people will use a sticky label maker, others will have placards properly made - but either way, the requirement is met. We just want to assure the pilots know.....
You can buy generic sticker sets but once things have been added etc it gets a bit messy.
I'd like to re-make this mess
using engraved aluminium strips, with holes just the right distance apart for each CB.
One day...
Socata is the funniest of all, they chose to have pictograms instead of text because a Frenchman would rather die than write something in English. It took me a while to figure out the meaning of all the pictures in the TB10 cockpit.
Pilot DAR: ... I require them because I have little faith that pilots read the flight manual...
Honestly, I prefer the JAR/EASA way where a differences training or at least familiarisation is required before a new type or variant can be flown. This always includes reading the manual!
Most airplane manuals are far to thick to be spread all over the cockpit in form of placards for those who don't like to read books anyway.
