Author: "c182pilot" <c182pilot@...> Time: Sun Feb 8, 2004 6:03 am PST Link
The airplane in this story isn't an RV-7A, but yet it makes me more
anxious to finish mine knowing that I can perform the annual condition
inspections myself. I will feel much safer that way.
I went and picked our Cessna up from getting an annual inspection
today. The closest mechanic is about 60 miles away from my home
airport. While preflighting, I noticed the landing light lens was
popped out of the bezel on the leading edge of the wing. After 20
minutes, the mechanic managed to fix it. I then got in the airplane
and checked movement of the flight controls. I pulled all the way back
on the yoke and as I was returning to the full down elevator position,
the yoke stuck at about the half travel point from full back to full
forward. The mechanics had installed a new attitude indicator and
routed a vacuum hose through an area that caused it to catch on the
yoke mechanism behind the panel. After an additional 30 minutes, we
got that fixed too. And to think, all of that high quality work for
big $$$$$.
Moral of the story: Always do a rediculously exhaustive preflight
after any mechanical work is done to your airplane....even if you do
the work yourself. It can make the difference between a good day or a
really bad day.
Author: "dmasys" <dmasys@...> Time: Sun Feb 8, 2004 7:39 am PST Link
--- In RV7and7A@yahoogroups.com, "c182pilot" <c182pilot@y...> wrote:
>
> I went and picked our Cessna up from getting an annual inspection
> today. The closest mechanic is about 60 miles away from my home
> airport. While preflighting, I noticed the landing light lens was
> popped out of the bezel on the leading edge of the wing.
<SNIP>
> Moral of the story: Always do a rediculously exhaustive preflight
> after any mechanical work is done to your airplane....even if you do
> the work yourself. It can make the difference between a good day or a
> really bad day.
An even better approach is to find a shop that encourages
owner-assisted annuals. I used JRA in Hagerstown MD for my Skylane
annuals for five years, and never had an annual that took more than a
day or cost more than $300. The arrangement was that I would fly up
there at the crack of dawn, have the cowl off and be opening all of
the inspection covers before they opened the maintenance hangar (a
heavy duty battery powered screwdriver is the most important tool
here). By being there every minute I could see any issues and help
make the corrective plan to fix them. And I should say that I did my
own "pre-annual" in the week or two before the inspection and ordered
any parts (e.g., seat rails) that would need to be fixed as part of
the inspection. Also made sure that routine stuff like new brake pads
were always done prior to the annual. After the inspection, I closed
up all of the inspection covers and did the final assembly, so I had
some confidence things were OK. Or at least had the blame for
anything that didn't check out.
But those first flights after major maintenance are still some of the
most risky. I remember flying back to my home airport after one
annual and finding the inspection plates back under the HS each
hanging on by one screw.
-Dan Masys
RV-7A N747DL flying
Author: midaggie@... Time: Sun Feb 8, 2004 8:13 am PST Link
Best advice I have seen on this site.
Fred Morrow
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Author: rccpilot@... Time: Sun Feb 8, 2004 8:49 am PST Link
I wholeheartedly agree. Every pilot should paticipate in the annual inspection process at least once. It is a real education. When I owned my '68 Cardinal I did the owner assisted thing every year and felt more confident of the result and became much more knowledgeable of the inner workings of my aircraft. Although I can't say I always kept the cost under $300 (cracks in cylinders, a mag, Carb/float AD etc.) it sure did reduce the cost to do the "grunt work" myself. The A&P liked it too since he could get the job done quickly and move on to someone else.
I originally bought my Cardinal damaged and spent a year repairing and replacing parts under the supervision and along-side an A&P and IA. Learned a lot about rivets, stringers, and structural repair. Supervised maintenance can include anything the A&P is willing to let you work on with his oversight and final sign-off in the logbook. This can be an education and money stretcher too if you can find a mechanic who is patient and willing.
Ray
rccpilot@c...
RV7A Tail done, QB wings, Fuselage work, 3/4 done with canopy