On pre-flight inspections

D Ramapriya wrote:
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

Just last month; found two broken clips on a Goodyear brake disk.
Goodyear wheels have a tendency to lock up when that happens. Found a
crack in the wheel at the rivet for one of the clips.

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/newbrake3.jpg

Swapped to a set of Grove wheels/brakes, working well so far.

Ron Wanttaja

On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:51:14 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

D Ramapriya wrote:
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

Just last month; found two broken clips on a Goodyear brake disk.
Goodyear wheels have a tendency to lock up when that happens. Found a
crack in the wheel at the rivet for one of the clips.

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/newbrake3.jpg

Swapped to a set of Grove wheels/brakes, working well so far.

Ron Wanttaja

those JATO bottles are hell on brakes :-)

Stealth Pilot

D Ramapriya wrote:
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

yes.

In-op transponder, within the Mode C veil

Wildly fluctuating ammeter - bad master switch

Leaking quickdrain

found cracks in prop and decided a no-go.

2 days ago our club suffered a propstrike due to a lost frontwheel during
departure (DV-20). question is: was preflight-check carried out properly?

H.T.

"D Ramapriya" wrote in message
...
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

Thanks,

Ramapriya
Well this is probably a bit OT since I was a student at the time, but it's a funny story...

On the 172 I flew most of the time, I think some rocket scientist A&P had replaced the door hinge
pins with nails. So one day we were doing our preflight, me on the left side of the airplane and my
instructor on the right side. I happened to look at the door hinge, noticed the pins were almost
worn through, and mentioned it to him (I was concerned the door could come off in flight). Just as
he was about to start berating me for being paranoid (slight exaggeration), he opened the door on
his side and... it fell off!

Flight canceled. :^)

Eric Law

In article
,
D Ramapriya wrote:

Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

Unlike so many of these other posters I've yet to have something like
this happen to me, but with only 120 hours and about 180 flights under
my belt, it's probably just a matter of time.

The worst things I've ever found during a pre-flight of a plane I
intended to fly have been minor things like spider web spun in a total
energy probe port, low tire pressure, etc.

The worst thing I ever found, pre-flight, not on my aircraft, was
disconnected ailerons. I noticed that both ailerons were down, and went
over to ask if that was how they were supposed to be. The owner said no,
connected them, and thanked me profusely. We're now good friends.

The worst equipment problem I've ever had, which came about on the
ground but which I really could not have reasonably found during a
pre-flight inspection, was a pitot tube probe that was not fully
inserted (my fault) which resulted in the ASI not working, which in turn
nearly resulted in landing short. Since the difference between fully
inserted and partially inserted is only about one inch, it's not
something I can really verify. I could try to push it in further, I
suppose, but I can push it in correctly at the beginning of the day in
the first place, which is what I make absolutely sure that I do now.

Wonder what items I'll be listing off when I hit 1000 hours....

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon

In article 27c00ba5-0fd1-4c1a-8b46-0240e2afe90d@
32g2000yqj.googlegroups.com, says...
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

While a student pilot, Tomahawk fuel selector valve broken/faulty -
leaked fuel onto the inside of the engine cowl.

But... didn't pick it up during pre-flight (valve worked OK in the off
position, which it was "parked" in). Noted it in the cabin, very strong
fuel smell after startup. Shutdown and re-inspected the engine, fuel
was visibly leaking in the ON position (not sure what side/tank was
selected, IIRC the Tomahawk has a left/right/off (no both?)).

Reported it and then carried on in a different Tramahawk.

--
Duncan

"Dave Doe" wrote in message
...
In article 27c00ba5-0fd1-4c1a-8b46-0240e2afe90d@
32g2000yqj.googlegroups.com, says...
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether? Just curious, that's all.

While a student pilot, Tomahawk fuel selector valve broken/faulty -
leaked fuel onto the inside of the engine cowl.

But... didn't pick it up during pre-flight (valve worked OK in the off
position, which it was "parked" in). Noted it in the cabin, very strong
fuel smell after startup. Shutdown and re-inspected the engine, fuel
was visibly leaking in the ON position (not sure what side/tank was
selected, IIRC the Tomahawk has a left/right/off (no both?)).

Reported it and then carried on in a different Tramahawk.

--
Duncan

You're right, there is no "both" position.

Peter

"D Ramapriya" wrote in message
...
Has any of you has ever discovered something during the pre-flight
inspection that necessitated a significant deferrment of your flight
plan or a cancelation altogether?

One day I had pulled a glider out to the flight line and completed my
pre-flight, only to find that the tow pilot was taking a bathroom break.
Just to kill time, I wandered over to the tow plane and gave it a casual
once-over. To my shock, I discovered that one of the struts on the
horizontal stabilizer was broken loose from its fuselage attachment. That
plane's next flight might have been its last!

Needless to day, there were no more tows that day.

Vaughn

On Jul 27, 4:47*pm, "vaughn"
wrote:

One day I had pulled a glider out to the flight line and completed my
pre-flight, only to find that the tow pilot was taking a bathroom break.
Just to kill time, I wandered over to the tow plane and gave it a casual
once-over. *To my shock, I discovered that one of the struts on the
horizontal stabilizer was broken loose from its fuselage attachment. *That
plane's next flight might have been its last!


This one made my day, Vaughan (or is it spelt Vaugn?). When I began
the thread, I thought people would've noticed in their pre-flights
issues ranging from the minor to semi-major but nothing potentially
catastrophic. This one though really looks like it'd have been
curtains. Harald's too, of course.

Thanks for the story!

Ramapriya