Preflight checklist

I would personally do a full preflight if the plan was unattended for
3-4 hours. I was taught that you full preflight after any extended
period away from the plane (up to you to determine "extended", though
for me it would be anything over 20 minutes or so), and to do a quick
visual check of the airplane if you ever lose sight of it.

Of course the "quick visual check" also varies. I've been up with one
instructor whose full preflight was far less thorough than what I'd
term a "quick visual check" (he didn't even use a checklist for the
preflight). His preflight wasn't much more than checking the gas,
setting the instruments/radios, and making sure the controls deflected
in the right direction. He was an older gentleman who seemed very
experienced, but a bit too "roll it out the hanger and fly" for my
tastes :).

Mike Gaskins

Jim Stewart wrote:
> I've flown with several GA pilots in the past
> and I'm now in the middle of flight training.
> I know that before you take your plane up the
> first time in a day, you do a complete preflight
> inspection per checklist.
>
> I'm wondering what the procedure should be after
> a brief stop or say a 3-4 hour stop. My experience
> with the pilots I've flown with was that after
> the first inspection, a quick walkaround followed
> by the pronouncement "It'll fly" was enough.

Steve Foley wrote:
> "Robert M. Gary" <N7093v@> wrote in message
> news:1165948080.671750.30540@f1g2000cwa. ps.com...
> > BTW: I measure the fuel everytime I start the engine and compare
> > it to what the onboard computer says. I'm a stickler for always knowing
> > how much fuel you have to the gallon at any moment in the flight. Too
> > many "fill it and forget it" pilots have declared fuel emergencies when
> > things go bad only to discover 2 hours of fuel on board.
>
> A friend of mine used a similar technique. Unfortunately, he KNEW he had 45
> minutes left when the prop stopped turning 5 miles short of the runway.
>
> He still believes it developed a leak.

That's the benefit of knowing how much fuel you have. If the gauge says
something you aren't expecting, you question it. The "fill it and
forget it" guys just fly around *knowing* they can fly for X hours.

-Robert

Mark Hansen wrote:
> On 12/12/06 10:44, Dudley Henriques wrote:
> This is exactly what I do.
>
> I received quite a bit of consternation from the FBO where I was renting and
> taking lessons, because they wanted me to pre-flight the plane, then come in
> the office for my pre-lesson briefing with the CFI(I).

Sound backwards. I do a preflight briefing with the student then send
them out to the plane to preflight. If for some reason that doesn't
work we'll do the briefing at the plane.

-Robert

Jim Stewart <jstewart@jkmicro.com> wrote in news:Zb2dneN-
TabgcuPYnZ2dnUVZ_qmpnZ2d@omsoft.com:

> I'm wondering what the procedure should be after
> a brief stop or say a 3-4 hour stop. My experience
> with the pilots I've flown with was that after
> the first inspection, a quick walkaround followed
> by the pronouncement "It'll fly" was enough.

My take is this. If the plane has left my sight, I do a full preflight.

If I do a quick turn, and by this, no fuel, plane not leaving my sight, I
still check control surfaces, check the over all shape of fuselage to make
sure I didn't hit anything that shouldn't be hit, check the pitot tube and
static hole, and check the oil.

Runup is the same on full preflights and quick turn flight.

Allen

"Robert M. Gary" <N7093v@> wrote in message
news:1165985481.443178.122540@79g2000cws. ...
> If your instructor is giving his time away for free that's fine. He
> knows what his time is worth better than anyone else.
>
> -Robert, CFII

Doesn't matter what instructor I have from there. Same deal. Insinuation
that my instructor is worth what he gets paid (ie nothing) is a bit rich
mate. Perhaps I learn at a country air strip that is more interested in
helping the GA community, rather than lining their own pockets. Something I
suggest is lacking at a lot of flight training air fields.
Oz Lander

"Jim Stewart" <jstewart@jkmicro.com> wrote

> I've flown with several GA pilots in the past
> and I'm now in the middle of flight training.
> I know that before you take your plane up the
> first time in a day, you do a complete preflight
> inspection per checklist.
>
> I'm wondering what the procedure should be after
> a brief stop or say a 3-4 hour stop. My experience
> with the pilots I've flown with was that after
> the first inspection, a quick walkaround followed
> by the pronouncement "It'll fly" was enough.

You should ask your instructor about this subject.

If your instructor has that attitude, you should be getting a new instructor
before you fly again.

Your life may depend on it; if that is the attitude they have for preflighting,
what else do they skimp on?

If that is the attitude some pilot friends of yours have, you might want to
reconsider if you want to fly with them again.
--
Jim in NC

> Doesn't matter what instructor I have from there. Same deal.

Same here. Crash. Perhaps it's an Australian RAA thing?

Cheers,

Al

karl gruber wrote:
> So Mike,
>
> Is it 20 minutes, or 4 ours?

Read the full posts man. The original poster asked about 3-4 hours. I
said that yes I'd full pre-flight if it was 3-4 hours (in response to
his question), because that is well over my own personal limit of about
20 minutes.

Mike Gaskins

> Doesn't matter what instructor I have from there. Same deal. Insinuation
> that my instructor is worth what he gets paid (ie nothing) is a bit rich
> mate. Perhaps I learn at a country air strip that is more interested in
> helping the GA community, rather than lining their own pockets. Something I
> suggest is lacking at a lot of flight training air fields.
> Oz Lander

What you call "lining pockets" others call "feeding kids, supporting a
family". CFI's get paid what the market dictates. If some choose to
give their services away for free, I'm sure they would be very popular.
I understand gas stations that give away free gas are also very
popular. I think I would be just a bit uncomfortable to take an
advantage of an instructor.

I'm well off enough that I don't need to charge $50/hr for my time. I
do it because that's what other CFI's that do the same type of
instruction are doing. I could put some of them out of business, have
their homes foreclosed on and starve their kids if I wanted to give my
services away for free. I charge market rate out of respect for them.

-Robert, CFII

I've flown with several GA pilots in the past
and I'm now in the middle of flight training.
I know that before you take your plane up the
first time in a day, you do a complete preflight
inspection per checklist.

I'm wondering what the procedure should be after
a brief stop or say a 3-4 hour stop. My experience
with the pilots I've flown with was that after
the first inspection, a quick walkaround followed
by the pronouncement "It'll fly" was enough.