Nose wheel air pressure

jspilot

jspilot

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jspilot
Today I flew to 44N( sky acres) for a morning breakfast. I eat and came back out the the plane while another guy was parking next to me. He had 2 guys in the plane and his nose wheel looked really low on air- Like near flat. I told him about it to help him out and he was very worried. Here's the thing, when the occupants were not in the plane the tire did not look so bad at all, but when he climbed up into the plane, to have his buddy look it got bad again. That got me thinking, how can you effectively check the tire pressure in the tire when it clearly changes a lot based on weight? Empty planes are usually what we are looking at when pre-flighting but this situation got me thinking that it may be easy to miss an under inflated tire, especially the nose tire since I rarely ever climb down there to push on it during preflight.

I've always been taught that in a 172, you should be able to place 4 fingers parellel to the ground between the top of the strut and the wheel. Of note, his plane was a Cherokee so I'm not sure that guideline applies. I'm sure he got it repaired but I left with a question to ask to other, more experienced pilots.
 
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jspilot said:
That got me thinking, how can you effectively check the tire pressure in the tire when it clearly changes a lot based on weight?
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All that matters is the cold PSI empty and the only way to verify it:

tumblr_lw4jgqtuqG1qlqfzg.jpg
 
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jspilot said:
Today I flew to 44N( sky acres) for a morning breakfast. I eat and came back out the the plane while another guy was parking next to me. He had 2 guys in the plane and his nose wheel looked really low on air- Like near flat. I told him about it to help him out and he was very worried. Here's the thing, when the occupants were not in the plane the tire did not look so bad at all, but when he climbed up into the plane, to have his buddy look it got bad again. That got me thinking, how can you effectively check the tire pressure in the tire when it clearly changes a lot based on weight? Empty planes are usually what we are looking at when pre-flighting but this situation got me thinking that it may be easy to miss an under inflated tire, especially the nose tire since I rarely ever climb down there to push on it during preflight.

I've always been taught that in a 172, you should be able to place 4 fingers parellel to the ground between the top of the strut and the wheel. Of note, his plane was a Cherokee so I'm not sure that guideline applies. I'm sure he got it repaired but I left with a question to ask to other, more experienced pilots.
Click to expand...


Clarify for us: Are you talking about a flat tire or a flat nosegear oleo?
 
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If you're seeing it change dramatically just by putting humans on board, it isn't anywhere close to aired up correctly.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Clarify for us: Are you talking about a flat tire or a flat nosegear oleo?
Click to expand...

I'm taking about just the flat tire. So similar to a car, when the tire is low on air it appears to expand around the rim.
 
jspilot said:
That got me thinking, how can you effectively check the tire pressure in the tire when it clearly changes a lot based on weight? Empty planes are usually what we are looking at when pre-flighting but this situation got me thinking that it may be easy to miss an under inflated tire, especially the nose tire since I rarely ever climb down there to push on it during preflight.
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I'm taking about just the flat tire. So similar to a car, when the tire is low on air it appears to expand around the rim.
Click to expand...

Keep one of these in your flight bag, maybe?

image.jpg
 
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jspilot said:
That got me thinking, how can you effectively check the tire pressure in the tire when it clearly changes a lot based on weight?
Click to expand...
Does it? Did you make a measurement of the pressure? How much does it really change with and without load?

Do the experiment. For example, you could check your tire pressure before and after fueling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Does it? Did you make a measurement of the pressure? How much does it really change with and without load?

Do the experiment. For example, you could check your tire pressure before and after fueling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
Click to expand...

Well visually the tire seemed to give in when the guys were in the plane and then release when they got out. To me that's a sign of a flat tire. But essentially your point is why I'm asking the question here.
 
jspilot said:
Well visually the tire seemed to give in when the guys were in the plane and then release when they got out. To me that's a sign of a flat tire. But essentially your point is why I'm asking the question here.
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If you saw it squish under a moderate change in load, the pressure probably was pretty low - likely near flat. Even a tire that doesn't look flat can be very low in pressure.

The change in pressure between squished and not squished will be small.

Visually inspecting a tire or thumping it with a tire iron will often not catch a low tire. But, if it does look flat, chances are it is.
 
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