jessh1969

My Feedback: (1)

How often should I do a complete front to back, bolt by bolt, inch by inch inspection on my planes? During cleanup I do an overall inspection....wheel collars tight, no loose control surfaces, no gross defects...etc. On my bench I usually check the plane over, pull the cowl, check prop....What I am asking is how often should I go beyond the ordinary? This is not counting crashes, just ordinary usage....

Thanks!

Jess

MikeMc

I never check anything except the prop nut and that's only because the OS LA 46 starts in reverse almost every fricken time.

volkan

i do mine everytime i clean my planes at home. i cant afford to crash!
it only makes you a better flyer. i check the fuel tank every month or so.

Montague

I usually check over the plane the night before I'm going to head to the field. How much checking I do depends on the plane and what I did with it last.

For most sport planes, I generally just look it over visually. I should do more, but I have to admit that I don't. But I do watch for any changes in the planes performance or handling, everything from how long it takes to pump fuel in to the tank (I don't time it, it's a "feel" thing), to how the engine and plane sounds once the engine is started. (Loose things sometimes show up as an odd noise that wasnt there before, hear something new, shut the engine down and look for loose things.) When looking over visually, I pay attention to the control linkages and servos.

I don't generally do things like take off the cowl and check everything over more than once a season, or unless something happened out of the ordinary, or looked, sounded, or felt wrong.

smokingcrater

check the vital parts far more often. controls for elevator are #1, followed by aileron, then throttle and rudder. (you can survive losing either of those two, but the others pretty much mean a crash...)

jessh1969

My Feedback: (1)

I just didn't know how deep I needed to look each week. I must be paranoid. At least once a week I like to start at the back of the plane and work forward. I have yet *knock on wood* had an inflight equipment failure. I have almost taken off with the glow starter still attached ...I was starting to taxi out...."What the?!"

I have only 1 time made a major mistake. I took off my son's trainer on the wrong model. I had the plane set on the model for my T-34. Luckily all the controls were the correct direction. The ailerons were dialed down so low that I had to fly it with rudder and elevator only. Lucky it was the trainer. No damage. During my preflight a nonflyer had come up to watch and was asking questions, etc and I let myself get distracted. Learned my lesson there....100% concentration when preflighting. Make sure each and everything is correct.

Jess

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I usually wait for something to fall off, then say:

"I shoulda looked at that"

FHHuber

A reliable plane will get you into trouble...

I recently retired my Fokker. After several months of it needing NO adjustments of any nature, and with my habit of putting it in the van with the wings attached. (never taking the wings off) I took off and durring the fligght noticed a performance change... it just was not responding to lelvator and aileron normally. When I took the plane apart (I landed) I found that the middle wing was a bag of busted balsa. Further inspection fouhnd a lot of cracking going on. (something about full power blenders...)

I have also had a plane that was working fine... and then I opened it up for a monthly inspection and found that I had one screw holding the elevator servo in and the servo rail was cracked at that screw. (I guess monthly was JUST often enough...)

Montague

Better to be paranoid and over-inspect than the other option . But, I honestly think most expereinced guys get in to the kind of thing FH was talking about, the "ole reliable" plane that has been flying for years and never needs attention because it just works. Until it doesn't.

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

I'm like Mike and FH. Should probably check more often than I do, but then I've never had an equipment failure in eight years either.

I look at things periodically, but it's almost always a visual (no tugging or twisting) unless I feel there's something not right. I don't check fuel tanks unless I have a problem either. But again, never had a fuel leak or even a bad fuel line for that matter.

Starting to think that I should go take a better look at a couple planes. []

(Thanks a lot Jess, now you've made ME paranoid. [:@])
Dennis-

Phi3l

Mike, that was toooo funny....

With me it's "I gotta learn to look closer next time."
seems I take some things for granted and forget to check 'em....

Phil in MN[8D]

ifixairplanes

My Feedback: (9)

being a fullsize aircraft mechanic, my mind is imbedded with PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE. After a day of flying, i pull out the paper towels, windex and my tools. I sit down in front of the TV and pull off the cowling, put in after run oil (1/2 bottle is enough for me ) then check every joint, linkage, connection, servo, screw, fuel tank, wires, Rx, Antenna, etc etc etc. then i clean it, look for loose seams and if there are any tach them down with my iron. Preventative maintenance, preventative maintenance, preventative maintenance!!!!!!! (i am crazy)


sean

photoniq

So far I have reattached a servo once, a propellor three times, and the entire engine mounts once using this tried and trusted method