Does anyone pre-flight anymore?

A

Alexb2000

En-Route
Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Messages
3,530
Location
Dallas, TX
Display Name
Display name:
Alexb2000
I have noticed that I take a lot longer to get off the ground than other people. I have also caught a lot of things while doing a good pre-flight, even on birds I owned. Every airport I go to I watch other pilots, drive up, load up, fire up, and go. Not even a walk around. It blows my mind how much of this I see. The NTSB database is full of accidents that could have been prevented with a pre-flight, yet the topic is never mentioned during BFR, IPC's, etc. In fact I watch CFI's doing the same all the time. Dangerous trend IMO.

So, what say you?
 
If it's the first flight of the day, I do a thorough preflight. But it doesn't take a whole lot of time to do that. It takes me longer to unchain the plane, stow the cover, load stuff, etc... than it does to get through all of the preflight checklist items.

But after a stop someplace, unless it's a very long one or overnight, yeah, I'll jump in and go. I might get a visual on the fuel if it's iffy.
 
I do... but then again I'm still a newbie. I don't plan to do any less preflight ten years from now, though. Seriously, it doesn't take that long. My preflight inspection on the planes I've been flying takes all of maybe five minutes or so.
 
(My last post was facetious)

The length of the preflight is proportional to the time spent away from the airplane and the number of other people and creatures the airplane could have been exposed to.

Keep in mind: Time to Complete Preflight <> Safety
 
Last edited:
I do a pretty good preflight when leaving if I haven't just been in it. My CFI or husband will always do their own preflight. We left the plane at an airport for a couple of hours. When we got back he turned the lights on and I checked them and he trusted I was accurate the right lights were on so we did it efficiently. By the time we were done it probably was 10 minutes. Husband felt a little rushed but I know the airplane quite well and have had things wrong with it (on purpose thanks to the CFI) so I know when things are right and wrong.

Just because no one else preflights around you doesn't mean you shouldn't! There is a tale around the airport that this guy came out to fly somewhere to get some work done on it. He jumped in started it up and took off (it's been sitting for months at that point) he gets the 10nm and destination and goes into the repair shop. The repair shop opens up the cowling in front of said pilot and said "Did you preflight before you left?" "No you're so close" Well come to find out birds made a nest in the engine bay and it costs more to repair then it was worth. So now a hunk of junk is at good ol' KTOL (not taking up much space since not much is there anymore. :(
 
I just finished reading "Flying Carpet" by Greg Brown. He says he was made fun of early in his flying days because of the extremely thorough preflights he did. In one of the stories in the book he says that in over 30 years of flying it has paid off twice in finding things that would have brought the plane to the ground sooner than he had planned. He says the extra time and effort were worth it - not only because of those two things, but also because the people that flew with him placed their trust in him, and he didn't let them down.

He could have saved many hundreds, possibly thousands, of man-hours by skimping on his preflights over the course of 30 years. But that one time where you just kick the tires and waggle the control surfaces and 30 minutes later you're sweating bullets and praying to a God you barely know for the chance to get to a safe place to land puts all those saved hours in a completely different perspective.

Excellent book, by the way. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
 
MassPilot said:
I do a full pre-flight by the checklist for the first flight of the day. After that I just do a walk-around and check the oil.
Click to expand...
Yeah. What he/she said. Since I fly club airplanes, and you never know what happened with the last flight, my first flight gets a very thorough by-the-book inspection. For flights later in the same day, where the plane hasn't been out of my sight, a walk-around, visual on the oil and fuel and away I go.
 
When I stop for fuel, I never leave the aircraft, so unless there is some thing pouring out of it I'm good to go as if the pit stop was a portion of the flight.
 
BrianR said:
Yeah. What he/she said. Since I fly club airplanes, and you never know what happened with the last flight, my first flight gets a very thorough by-the-book inspection. For flights later in the same day, where the plane hasn't been out of my sight, a walk-around, visual on the oil and fuel and away I go.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I do. It doesn't matter who has the plane before me--even if its an instructor I know really well. An instructor was out with a student right before I was supposed to go out for a lets-see-how-many-airports-we-can-land-at-in-3-hours sort of trip, and when I did my preflight, I found that the exhaust pipe had cracked off of the muffler. (I'm probably not describing that well, but I'm no mechanic.) Thankfully it was a quick fix, but needless to say, I didn't get to fly that day. Prolly wouldn't have killed me, but it sure wasn't good.
 
I do a thorough preflight every flight; even if I just flew an hour ago. I've tried to short-change the process but end up feeling uneasy so I go back and do the job correctly.

After all, when is a nut going to fall of a critical surface fitting or a bug slam into the pitot tube; while you were just flying or when it is sitting quietly on the ground. The issue isn't how long it was sitting quietly so why should that factor into if/when you preflight. One could argue the best time to preflight (except the fuel sumps) is immediately after the last flight. At least then if you find a missing screw, loose nut, cracked pipe, or leaking oil you have time to fix it.
 
I do a preflight inspection every time, although I will admit that it's usuallly not as thorough on the second or subsequent flights each day. I insist on the same with my trainees, especially on flight reviews, and I'd have to question the competence/judgement of any flight instructor who did not cover this on a flight review (with appropriate exemption for multicrew captains who have a qualified co-pilot or flight engineer to whom they can delegate the actual walkaround inspection -- and for flight reviews, I ain't the CP or FE).
 
I'm a student with solo privileges, but I still preflight. I don't take like 20 minutes or anything; but, I'll take like 10-15 to just make sure the plane is good. It's my first flight in the plane that has been used by someone else. I want to make sure that it's good for me.
 
Yes. But it is proportional to the requirements.

I spend a bit less time on preflight with my owned plane than I did with a rental. But I do spend sufficient time to identify issues. I've found screws missing (not tightned well after annual), unwanted objects in engine comparment (oil fliter drain pan, wrench, etc), water in the fuel, low tire air, and other assorted minor things.

I spend a LOT more time after annual or some kind of maintenance in the shop. I'd say that the vast mojority of times I've gotten it back from annual I've found something. I ask that the maintenance shop leave the top engine cowl off for me to inspect/preflight based on my experiences....

If it's a short stop w/just refuel, then I walk around the plane & check key items. First flight of the day gets a more detailed pre-flight. I put the fuel caps back on the plane myself - allows me to cross-check fuel level.
 
I had preflights drilled into me when I took flight training back in the late 80's,and whenever I resume flight training again it'll be the same(better to be alive than to be in a dive).
 
Alexb2000 said:
I have noticed that I take a lot longer to get off the ground than other people. I have also caught a lot of things while doing a good pre-flight, even on birds I owned. Every airport I go to I watch other pilots, drive up, load up, fire up, and go. Not even a walk around. It blows my mind how much of this I see. The NTSB database is full of accidents that could have been prevented with a pre-flight, yet the topic is never mentioned during BFR, IPC's, etc. In fact I watch CFI's doing the same all the time. Dangerous trend IMO.

So, what say you?
Click to expand...

We were flying/camping "somewhere" and my wife was ribbing me that the guy we parked next to was "just like me" because he did a thorough pre-flight. She was a non pilot at the time and was accusing us of being overly anal about it. Aside from myself and my neighbor, everyone else just hopped in and turned the key.
 
wsuffa said:
I spend a LOT more time after annual or some kind of maintenance in the shop. I'd say that the vast mojority of times I've gotten it back from annual I've found something. I ask that the maintenance shop leave the top engine cowl off for me to inspect/preflight based on my experiences....
Click to expand...

Battery box lid open (10 screws) with a wratchet lying on top of the batteries

Nut not installed on the prop governor cable (fell off during run up)

Oil filter wrench on top of airbox inside cowling

Rear seat belts not installed - Seats put back but the belt end "brackets" not re-attached through the seat bolt.

Trim run to full nose up limits (stark reminder to always check for neutral trim)

The list goes on.....
 
I can walk around and inspect and touch everything on a C172 in less than 10 minutes, including draining the tanks. That's my minimum for the first flight of the day in an airplane I'm familiar with. If the airplane is new to me, the preflight may take longer as I'm going to look harder at things.

If the airplane's been in my control and hasn't had any service, then a subsequent inspection is a check of oil level, confirmation that fuel in the tanks matches what I expect, and a quick walkaround looking at condition - 5 minutes or less.

If I'm teaching, then every flight with a student is treated as a "first" flight.
 
I've had lots of people tell me I take forever, but they have been pilots, and understood it was a pleasure flight, and they were in no hurry / did not pressure me. One pilot complemented me on being thorough and in fact said she learned a few tricks from me - these were tricks I had learned from my flights with other pilots. This is why my pre-flights are long, I watch other people preflight and copy them / add their tricks to my bag.
 
Since there are only two people (myself and my uncle) who would be flying our bird, it reduces the chances that "others" will screw something up and we would not know about it. Having said that - first flight each day for me is a pretty decent preflight, I'm looking at tires and hinges and lights and in the cowling for anything amiss, and a good ground check of the GPS and radios before taxi. After that, each shutdown gets a walkaround and visual oil/fuel check and a glance at the tires to make sure I have no flats. I always sump the tanks after fueling, regardless of anything else going on.

I'm also pretty anal about maintenance though, so that helps keep everything more or less functional. I'm one of those guys that has a cruise checklist that includes VOR crosscheck, engine performance logging for trending analysis, WOTLOP mag check in flight, etc etc. I can't just sit still and watch the world go by, I'm always playing with the airplane.

If you know your bird really well, it will talk to you and tell you when there is a problem - if you know how to listen to it.
 
Last edited:
I preflight pretty thoroughly on the first flight of the day. After that it's a walk around, a kiss on the nose and off we go. My first preflight takes about 15 minutes.
 
For me having an airplane that without easy access to the engine is very frustrating. My TArrow requires a phillips screw driver and about 10 minutes to take the cowel off. Its awkward to do by myself but not impossible.
Somehow looking the engine over always makes me feel better.
About every 2-3 flights I will remove the cowel and have a look.

That said, I can do a preflight in 5-10 minutes. Always longer after recent service or more than a few weeks in beteween flights.

If I were renting, it would be much more thorough.
 
andybean said:
For me having an airplane that without easy access to the engine is very frustrating. My TArrow requires a phillips screw driver and about 10 minutes to take the cowel off. Its awkward to do by myself but not impossible.
Somehow looking the engine over always makes me feel better.
About every 2-3 flights I will remove the cowel and have a look.

That said, I can do a preflight in 5-10 minutes. Always longer after recent service or more than a few weeks in beteween flights.

If I were renting, it would be much more thorough.
Click to expand...

Also a major pet peeve of mine, although I can uncowl the 310 in about 2 minutes since it's all 1/4 turn fasteners. I much prefer 2 latches and off it comes.
 
Initial flight of the day and I do a detailed preflight, hands on. I try to order fuel at least 24 hours in advance so I feel more confident about sumping.

After a flight, maybe for eats or fuel, I'll do a quick walk around and a visual fuel check. I'll sump if I took on fuel.

If I leave the plane for an extended time, out of sight, I'll do a more detailed hands on pre-flight paying close attention to control surfaces and places another plane or piece of equipment could have left some ramp rash.
 
I spent two and a half hours servicing the airplane this morning, then another half-hour walking the preflight and getting the airplane ready.

Normally I start two hours before a known departure time.
 
Preflight on every leg. Don't consider it complete and successful until the green lights go out on gear retraction.
 
Sounds like we have a lot of safe operators out there, good deal.

How many have noticed a lot of other pilots skipping it?
 
Alexb2000 said:
Sounds like we have a lot of safe operators out there, good deal.

How many have noticed a lot of other pilots skipping it?
Click to expand...

I have gone on flights where pilots have their own private plane and claim (to me) that they went to the hangar the night before to do the pre-flight. In those cases, when I arrive, all I see them do is pull the plane out of the hangar and start it up. Then again, they have hundreds of hours in the plane and they are the only one flying it.
 
Alexb2000 said:
Sounds like we have a lot of safe operators out there, good deal.

How many have noticed a lot of other pilots skipping it?
Click to expand...


What I see much more and is an even greater concern is people preflighting without knowing what they are looking at or for. The other day I went an looked at a nearby 172 for a board member in TX. It was offered from a busy flight school/FBO. When I did my initial 'preflight' look over the plane I found all the aileron hinge pins on the left wing not secured. When I inspected the logs I found when the wing was replaced. It had flown for several years and thousands of hours like that, nobody noticed. What's worse is the IA doing the annuals (who also put the wing on) didn't know it.:nonod::nonod::nonod: Looking at everything and saying "Yep it's there and pretty" isn't any better than no preflight at all.

When I get rides in peoples planes first time I do a preflight as well, amazing how often I find things.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I have gone on flights where pilots have their own private plane and claim (to me) that they went to the hangar the night before to do the pre-flight. In those cases, when I arrive, all I see them do is pull the plane out of the hangar and start it up. Then again, they have hundreds of hours in the plane and they are the only one flying it.
Click to expand...

They'll stop doing that as soon as a critter builds a nest in the cowl. Stupid.
 
I like the folks that take their fuel sample and hold it up against the sky and go "Yep it's blue"
 
EppyGA said:
I like the folks that take their fuel sample and hold it up against the sky and go "Yep it's blue"
Click to expand...

LOL I always hold it up against the white part of my plane. I smell it and I even put a drop on my finger and rub my fingers together to be sure it isn't oily.
 
EppyGA said:
I like the folks that take their fuel sample and hold it up against the sky and go "Yep it's blue"
Click to expand...

Ummm, I do that. Hard to see the water separation from the top. I also want to see the color of the fuel. Hell I even smell it. :dunno:
 
EppyGA said:
I like the folks that take their fuel sample and hold it up against the sky and go "Yep it's blue"
Click to expand...

I do that, too. I know someone that identified plane being misfueled that way....
 
Alexb2000 said:
Sounds like we have a lot of safe operators out there, good deal. How many have noticed a lot of other pilots skipping it?
Click to expand...

My Bride, who is NOT a pilot will point out immediately when someone pulls up to the plane loads the bags and fires up. Her response, nice pre-flight, shame his/her partner has no clue.
 
> they went to the hangar the night before to do the pre-flight.

I do a post-flight inspection. Hoping to find mx matters, so they can be repaired at
leisure, rather than delaying a departure.

Nonetheless; I still do a full pre-flight if it's anything longer than a short meal on
the field. Birds can stuff an engine compartment with twigs surprisingly quickly.
 
I don't really preflight at all. I toss my roller bag in the overhead compartment, stow the laptop under the seat in front of me, and prepare to turn my kindle off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top