We do a preflight each and everytime before we leave the ground. However I bet there is a few things you might be missing. In this video I’ll share with you 3 VERY COMMON items that student pilots and pilots alike miss on a regular basis.
What are some other ideas or items you feel it could be easy to miss? Tell me in the comment box below.
Text Transcript
Hey everyone, Jason Schappert here, MzeroA.com. On today’s video I’m going to share with you three things you should definitely be checking each and every time before you fly on your pre-flight inspection but you might be overlooking, that you may be checking every now and then, and that sort of thing. So without further ado let’s go ahead and share those three things with you.
The first thing you might be skipping on your pre-flight is actually tire pressure. Now pay attention to this. This is a Condor 600×6 tire. For the tire pressure you should go onto Condor’s website because you cannot see it on the tire itself. It should be between 35 and even as high as 45 PSI but do check the manufacturers website. You know don’t take my word for it. So let’s check this. It actually looks good by the way. The tire pressure was actually 25 PSI. So let’s take a look at this though. On pre-flight when you look you can’t put a dent in the tire. It looks good because it does not push out and looks fine but this is low PSI, lower which seems too low. Maybe you want to take some air out when you make your landing soft, but I don’t know. But you are really shortening the tire’s life by not having enough air pressure in those tires. So check that tire pressure’s cap so you can do a search so you know what tire pressure it should have.
Let’s move to the second thing now. The second thing is the aileron connecting rod. A little safety precaution here too. When you are working with the aileron you want to make sure it is up with one hand because when you are checking and a gust of wind comes and it closes on your finger you won’t feel so good. Check this connecting rod here with the other hand. You want to hear and feel this. You can hear it but you cannot feel it. It should have a little wiggle to it. Some people just check and see if it moves. It is one thing for it to move, it is another thing for it to be properly attached, which helps make sure you check those aileron connecting rods.
The third and final thing is fuel quantity. So who would not check fuel quantity? Well the same people who find themselves short of the airport because of fuel exhaustion. I always use a fuel stick. Some low-wind aircraft have the tabs. It is one thing to visually look in there, it is another when you have a physical value to it. Stick it down, bring it up, it looks like we have just four gallons. Four gallons in a fuel tank isn’t a whole lot of fuel. Good thing we checked. Quantity is another thing. Ask yourself this, if I have four gallons in this tank and ten gallons in the other, and my fuel selector valve is on both you might think why is gas coming out of this tank and none out of that tank. Maybe you have a fuel problem.
So those are the three things; your tire pressure, your aileron connector rod and your fuel quantity.
What do you guys think? What are things you in particular check? I would love to hear them, so leave me a comment below this video on MzeroA.com. I would love to see what you guys think. So I will let you get flying and remember a good pilot is always learning. See ya.
