Being a greenhorn owner/pilot, and having rented an aircraft fairly recently, I feel like my preflight inspection of my owned aircraft vs a non-owned aircraft is different. I spend hours doting on the thing in the hangar, looking at this and that, peering around the engine.

Well, when I flew it the other day, I wheeled it out of the hangar, sumped the tanks and the gascolator, fired it up and taxiied down to pick up my friend/pilot who jumped right in, and we taxiied for takeoff. Afterward, I got to thinking about how I threw all my learned vigilance out the window from my training days. I didn't do a thorough walkaround, I didn't check the oil, didn't check the fuel, didn't inspect the ailerons and flaps and elevator hinge attach points...all the stuff I normally do when flying a rental.

However, I had personally fueled the aircraft the day before. I had checked the oil the day before. I walk around the thing habitually anyway in the hangar and check stuff out like an ape grooming his mate. No one else had tinkered or operated the aircraft, and for that subconscious reason i think I slacked on the preflight.

I'm not sure it's a good habit to let slide though. I'm curious as to how you other owners have adapted your preflight routine for more scrutiny or less scrutiny.

Z

Zane

Use the check list. If you don't have one make one. Myself, I can't remember what I had for lunch but if I write it down I could tell you next year. In using the checklist you will develop a sense of important priorities that is specific to your plane.

I agree, one time I went on auto and did not follow my checklist and right after take off I thought, now do I know the gas caps are on tight! Had to land and check, they were, but made me realize that I need to be very careful and not slack off.

Since then I always use a checklist.

Ooooooooo, good subject, Zane.

And good advice from posters. As one who flew one or two planes nearly every day, I can tell you that pre-flights can get pretty routine, which is another word for sloppy.

I too have gotten airborne and wondered about the gas cap. And found it in my coverall pocket (floatplane, no chains on gas cap-put it there so as not to lose it).

It's easy to skip a few things, and in some ways the manufacturer's checklists do us no particular favors by being so "thorough". Is there rubber on the tires?? Will the flaps extend??? Duh.

Make yourself an abbreviated walkaround checklist that hits the stuff that really impacts on aviation safety. Use it religiously until its ingrained, then do it from memory and verify with the list, if you really don't want to carry the list around with you. Hit the important stuff.

And, better yet, develop an AFTER FLIGHT check list. Ya know, it makes way more sense if its your own airplane to discover items whcih may need maintenance well before your next flight as opposed to just before. You'll cancel less flights, annoy your mechanic way less, and dissapoint less chilluns who were promised an introductory flight.

MTV

We should all do a complete preflight every time. The few times that I didn't I have been bit with a variety of odd things. One of the worst was I did not do a walkaround after buying fuel. I sucked out over 25 gallons of gas in less than fifteen minutes in the air because the fuel guy had put the caps on backwards. Had I been going to Juneau instead of just back to Haines I would have run out of gas about Berner's Bay and ended up in the water!

I many areas you can get mud-daubers and mice and stuff that can do all sorts of shitty things to you overnight and it is not unheard of to have someone steal all your gas either.

I will now quit being lazy and go back to using the written check list instead of running it in my head, good thread.

Shane

Good responses. Like Jr, I made a custom checklist for each airplane that I have flown. It's a laminated, 2-sided card that fits nicely into my tri-fold kneeboard. It has a shitload of information, much of it verbatim from the POH, like target airspeeds, etc. The emergency procedures are in big print surround by a red box. It's only got information though that I can use from inside the cockpit...no walkaround/airplane integrity related items.

I think I am going to make a new one though that includes some pre-flight items specific to my airplane. I got into a bad habit of memorizing the Cessna 152 walkaround checklist, and frankly it's pretty rudimentary and easy to remember as you walk around the airplane and look at each item in sequence. BUT, it's always the one thing you forgot that will probably get ya.

The reason I posed this question is because I wondered if there are any items you airplane owners don't scrutinize over as much, because you are the only one who flies your aircraft. When I was renting, I didn't trust anything because I never knew who was doing what to the airplane when I wasn't around. The rental shops I've used had a good squawk program for addressing trouble items, but that's as close as I could get to following the heartbeat and health of the airplane.

Good call on the postflight, mtv. I'm going to start doing that more. Can be painful to get too close to a hot engine tho.

And, don't forget to stand back and look at the big picture. One of our guys did that once and couldn't figure out what was wrong with the plane.

Spent a lot of time with several folks trying to figure it out.

Problem was that the prop (three blade) had been replaced. The new prop had two blades appropriate to an 80 inch prop. The third blade was for a 78 inch prop.

It'd been taxiied down to the hangar by the mechanic and put away. It was really hard to see, but I'm guessing it would have shook like a pup crapping peach pits at 2850 rpm.

Stand back before and after each flight, and see if everything looks "right" from a distance.

As to emergency checklists: PITCH: to a safe attitude
GAS: to another tank
HEAT: carb heat to hot

While your'e doing those three memory items, be looking for, and heading toward a landing site.

Most all the other stuff folks put on their emergency checklists for engine failure will actually cause only engine roughness, such as mags.

Many, many engine failure accidents were the result of fuel exhaustion, with 20 or 30 gallons of fuel remaining in the plane.

MTV

mtv wrote:Make yourself an abbreviated walkaround checklist that hits the stuff that really impacts on aviation safety. Use it religiously until its ingrained, then do it from memory and verify with the list, if you really don't want to carry the list around with you. Hit the important stuff.

I had the pleasure (and distress) of doing my insurance check-out in my Maule with a retired Air Force Brigadier General who also just happened to be an ex-commandant and pilot for the T-Birds.

He really hated written check lists, except for use as a learning aid, and demanded that I memorize the things to the point that they became second nature, were executed hands on with speed and accuracy, and in the same exact order every time.

Believe it or not, but having multiple people pre-flight an airplane, I.E. a rental will discover more problems than just one person pre-flighting his airplane. People look at different things, plus you may not notice something that slowly get's worse.
One last thing, if your into making checklists be sure to laminate and attach the approach that you will use if you go inadvertant IMC in your home area. You can check the amndt# on the approach to ensure currency, no need to replace it unless it's not current. In the military we used an anocrynm for inadvertant IMC.
A= attitude, wings level
T= Tq., power to climb
H= heading, to clear know obstacles
A= airspeed, Vy probably a good choice
Sorry to morph this thread, but preflight leads to checklist leads to emergency procedures leads to IMC. I've buried far more friends due to IMC and wire strikes than to all other reasons combined

A good topic indeed. I suggest that whatever pre-flight you use, wether from memory or checklist, home-made or direct from the POH, always do it in the same order. This makes it habit, and less likely to forget something. When you are done, verify with a written checklist to make sure you have not forgotten anything. I always sump fuel, check oil, and then walk around the airplane, starting at the prop, and working my way around counter-clockwise. Make sure all flight control surfaces move properly, and attach points are secure. Check fabric for rips and tears, sheetmetal for holes. Check tires and brakes. Check security of lights and antennaes. Make sure that everything is basically bolted together properly, and make sure the things that will kill you (gust locks installed, ice on wings, etc.) and the things that can damage the airplane (engine cover installed, prop lock on, loose hardware, etc.) are taken care of.

I had was working on a Cessna case once where this guy bought a Cessna 310 in a junk yard. Had the entire inside stripped out. Seems he wanted to move it from one airport, to one closer to where he lived...So he put a milk crate on the floor, sat on it, and started his roll. Only problem was he had rigged the ailerons back way round, so left was right and.....He ended up going off the side of the runway and into a fence. He live through the post crash fire, and sued Cessna for the fuel line placement.

I have a lot of stories like that.

Owning an aircraft is no excuse for not preflighting or a quick around.

I know of two incidents that were caused by the lack of a thorough preflight. One was when a person stole the springs off a tailwheel and another was when an unscrupolous FBO decided to borrow parts off a Cessna tail to install on one of their customers planes. Hoping to have the part ordered and replaced before the owner noticed it was missing. In these cases neither owner noticed anything until they were in taxi. Both of these aircraft were housed in locked hangars.

Once I was waiting for another aircraft to takeoff and noticed when he rotated he had a big cloud of what looked like smoke coming off his wing. I realized it was fuel coming out of his wing tank. Told him about it and he came around and landed to find the fuel guy had his fuel cap in his pocket. With the amount of fuel being sucked out of his tank it would have been empty in a short while.

After flying for the day I always clean my leading edges and windscreen as the bugs come off easier right after flying and do a walk around.

After shutting down a before you leave the cockpit checklist is pretty important making sure mags, master, avionics, etc are turned off. I also always pull the starter circuit breaker.

It's been a long time ago, About 40 years ago when I was a kid, but one lap in the traffic pattern will completely suck all of the fuel out of a C-182 wing if there is no fuel cap. If I remember right it was still attached, but apparently incorrectly fastened.

I fly several different A/C regularly and have made my own checklist for each type, based on the POH but in the same format. That makes it easy to move from ship to ship. I don't carry a checklist for preflight, but perform the walkaround in a similar manner, then review the preflight checklist before firing up. Personally, it seems more important to look at the plane during preflight than look at a checklist.

As for repeated flights during the day, always look at the fuel and the oil, and walkaround to be sure no one has dented the plane.

I can't remember where I heard this, but....

Seems this guy thought the rudder on the airplane he owned with his friend was getting a little rough, so he took it off, and bought it home to recover it. You just know where this is going right? Well ya, his friend did not look at the airplane the next day. Pulled it out of the hanger and went into a ditch half way down the runway. The airport people were looking at the mess, and the kid who drives the fuel truck says "hey, where is the rudder?"

I had a Cessna 177B for a few years. I was flying it down to a small uncontrolled airport when, just over head I became confused about which runway to use. I decided to circle once, and thought "Man it's hot in here so I turned off the heater my wife had on." I figured it out real quick and landed for lunch. After, outside on the ramp getting ready to leave, I was struck by a thought and grabbed the exhaust stack. Yup, it was almost broken clean off, with just a thin strip holding it on. Close one for sure.

So since this is about renting too....

The worst rental I ever had was from a place in San Carlos (not there now) that rented me a 152. I was getting my private and wanted to go out to the practice area to do so stalls and other air work. When I rented the plane, the guy told me that the plane liked to stall left wing first, and the it might need a rig soon, but hey its been fine. So I did my preflight and off I went.

Jeesh I really did stall left wing first and made a clunking sound. I dam near spun it, so I fiqured one was enough and flew it back. On landing the controls were a little stiff...Hummm. So after I had it tied down, I started to check the rigging, being an A and P and all. I found the bolt at the base of the wheel control tree, behind the panel with chains on it, had the sheared off. The entire tree was floating around in there, and it is a wonder it did not cross up and jam.

Oh ya, I red tagged that airplane.

I learned to do a really thorough preflight when I was flying as a CAP observer in Alaska during the late 70’s from one of the search pilots. He took the time to show me how – and more importantly why – to look at each piece of the aircraft. I still do it that way every time I’m away from the aircraft.

My sad / funny tale comes from my PPL check ride last year. The DE insisted that I do the preflight with the book in hand (not necessarily a bad idea) and then after he graded me on the preflight I went and reinspected the aircraft the way I was taught (much, much more thorough than the 172N POH).

I did make a note of the post flight checklist idea and think that I’ll start doing the preflight over again (I know HOT engine) to find the squawks.

Don

Hey Don,

Since I'm a 170 owner and frequent 172 renter, I'd be interested in seeing your checklist. Maybe you could type it up and paste it in here.

Z

Zane,

Mostly, it's an attitude.

After doing the normal document check and removing the control lock, I move to the front of the aircraft and start at the cowl openings. From there, I basically touch and look at everything - if an inspection plate screw is loose, I'll find it. And, just like I was taught so long ago at jumpmaster school, the hands and the eyes work together - you look at what you're touching and you touch what you are looking at.

I don't have it written down, but will try and get you something.

Don

After a real bad experience, the first thing on my check list is to turn off the cell phone. While fueling the plane the cell phone rang and I left the left fuel cap off. Went from Weed, CA (O46) to about 25 miles north Medford, OR (MFR) before I figured out there was something wrong.

Gages were both on E but what the heck they are Cessna Gages. I was on an IFR flight plan but was on top at 10,000 ft when I informed Seattle Center that I had a problem and was heading back south to Medford. When they told me to descend to 9,000 I told them I would stay at 10 and to keep everybody out of my way. Later Cascade approach wanted me at 7,000 but did not co-operate with them either. Giving away altitude is like loaning money to a drug addict, you will most likely never get it back.

You know how we wish we had a Bose headset to keep things real quiet. Well when things got even quieter than what a Bose will do for you, my wife did not like it at all.

Ran out of gas at 10,000 feet about five miles north MFR. Touched down at the first intersection and was met by the fire department. Took .4 gal more than the published usable (thank goodness).

Took a bit of time for my wife to cozy up to me after that.

Maybe this should be in the close call forum. Anyway, turn off the cell phone for the pre flight. Beter to check your mail than to check your shorts.

Tim